My book on tango condenses how grateful I am to Mexico, expresses César Olguín

Juan José Olivares

La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, April 15, 2024, p. 6

Pepe Fuelle continues failing with all success.

It is the phrase coined long ago by this music artist from Río Cuarto, Argentina, who arrived in Mexico 45 years ago bringing with him his creations and performances with an instrument that collects air and launches it into beauty.

Pepe Fuelle is also known as Don César or Maestro Olguínnamed after his close friends, let’s say, with whom he shares the asados ​​(traditional gathering to taste meat, wine and so on) in Mexico.

In reality, his name is César Olguín, founder of the Mexican Tango Orchestra, who on Saturday afternoon, in the Manuel M. Ponce room of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, gave away two pieces with his eternal companion, the bandoneon, to take to the present to an intangible trip to a milonga in a Buenos Aires suburb near Río de la Plata.

I didn’t come prepared to play his bandoneon that, stoically, was waiting for him on the stage of the room, as in decades, to be manipulated. The two songs were to sonorously contextualize the presentation of his book Although a lot of time has passed: Tango in Mexico, written over almost four years to bring together part of the history of that genre, intangible heritage of humanity.

The text, unique in its kind, includes biographies of relevant figures, both national and foreign, linked to tango from the beginning of the 20th century. Contains context, photos, unpublished documents, profiles of musicians, performers, singers, dancers, producers, composers and discographies, as well as interviews. It has a chapter dedicated to Astor Piazzolla in Mexico.

Olguín has been spreading tango in our country for decades, “which encompasses life, love, betrayals, suffering, hatred and death…”, according to the author of 28 albums, who, as a soloist, has performed with orchestras that include the Chamber of Fine Arts, the Philharmonic of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, among many others.

He is the authoritative voice of the loose reed instrument and now, he has also become a chronicler of the history of the genre in our country. It is not a history of this music, it is just a failed attempt to condense part of what is grateful to Mexico. You don’t have to read too much to realize that I am not a writer, which does not exempt me from responsibility, but if there were a need for a qualifier, it would be chronicler or compiler.said the bandoneon player.

At the meeting, César thanked those who from different ways, ways and places have collaborated so that this text gave light.

Before giving the floor to his friend Juan Arturo Brennan, music journalist, scriptwriter and collaborator of this newspaper, he paraphrased the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges: tango does its will with us.

This phrase serves to rescue another from the work, which is overwhelmingBrennan noted, and comes from one of the “greatest tango players of all time: Osvaldo Pugliesse, who said that ‘national sovereignty is also defended with culture.’”

This book, Brennan summarized, is about the tango that came from there to here and the tangueros who arrived and its ramifications and extensions. One of its attractions, he added, are “the mixtures between tango and other music, and the mixtures between tango players and other musicians, a tasty part because it allows us to imagine what they sounded like. One can also learn, between the lines, because César does not let it be seen very clearly – but I am sure he thinks it –, is that the new and the old tango are one thing. The only thing there is that there is the conservative side that says that new tango is not new and the progressive that assures that it is only one.”

Also noteworthy is the number of biographical files, quotes, statements; the iconography very interesting and fun. There are many photos of pampero gauchos who did tango, and that made me feel short because since I started learning about tango, I related it to urban music; However, in seeing these figures there is an interesting historical aspect to explore: tango in the countryside.

In the presentation, Germán Palomares, announcer and musical promoter, stressed that César Olguín, in addition to being demanding, disciplined, artistically ambitious, with this, stands as a undisputed figure of the music of our country.