Sad news for the cultural and musical world of Cordoba. This Thursday, the death of pianist Hermes Bálsamo, one of the “historical figures” of the world of tango and milongas in this city, was confirmed.
The news was confirmed by his wife Delfina. Bálsamo was 85 years old and died at his home in Lago Azul, where he had settled since the time of the pandemic.
Hermes Bálsamo was born in the small Santa Fe commune of San Guillermo, on December 20, 1939. He attended primary school and simultaneously studied piano at the Santa Catalina de Siena School conservatory, which was part of the Dominican congregation.
“When I finished primary school, my father (Antonio Bálsamo) asked me what I was going to do with my life and he told me that if I was passionate about music I should go ahead and not pay attention to what people would say,” he told journalist Héctor Brondo in an extensive interview with The voice in 2012.
At the age of 13, he made his public debut with the tango orchestra Los Ases, directed by Víctor Albornoz. “It was on December 24th in a mansion in my town that had a beautiful grove of trees and a stage in the courtyard,” he recalled.
With this training, at the age of 15 he made his first artistic tour as a paid musician: he performed in Bariloche and other venues in Patagonia. At the age of 18 he came to Córdoba to try his luck in Eduardo Baravalle’s orchestra. Here, a pianist friend recommended him to Heraldo Bosio. “’El Maestro’ was a very good payer and had work to keep and frieze,” he said about the popular accordionist.
Artist of all genres, but lover of tango
Established in this city, Bálsamo formed the group Blanco y Negro, which experienced its greatest moment in the early ’80s.
In his professional career he did everything: he accompanied the duo Pimpinela, directed the permanent orchestras of Canal 12 and Audiovisión and “dressed” the entire programming of LV2 with musical curtains and jingles.
He cultivated different musical genres, from jazz to salsa, but never strayed from tango, the style with which he most identified.
Throughout his long career, he would accompany talented instrumentalists such as the violinist Antonio Agri – who brought him into contact with his idol, Astor Piazzolla – and singers such as Polaco Goyeneche, Alberto Marino, Jorge Valdez, Roberto Rufino and many others.
In recent years, he has accompanied great tango singers on the local scene such as Gustavo Visentín, Silvia Lallana, Daniel Simmons and Julieta Ghibaudo.
For several years, starting in 2004, Hermes Bálsamo was a teacher at La Colmena, where it was his first teaching experience. Interviewed by journalist Alejandro Mareco, he said: “The school offers students to go through different genres of popular music, and I show them tango. Many kids like it and get hooked. It is not a simple genre, because you have to live with it: the phrasing, the way of playing, of accompanying…”.
Silvia Lallana’s farewell
The singer from Córdoba, one of the leading voices of tango in the province, rebuilt her relationship with Bálsamo at the request of The voice. “I met Hermes many years ago, I think I was not yet singing professionally, but they had called me to do a jingle and he was there. There, I met his humor and his passion for anything he tackled,” she recalls.
“When I dedicated myself to singing and got into tango, he was a reference in the music scene, so I called him to make the arrangements for that album that I made between Troilo and Piazzolla,” he explained.
“What I appreciate about him is first of all his passion when it comes to playing and making music. The other thing that always captivated me about him is his good humor. He always had a smile, he always had a joke, I never saw him angry, I never saw him sad. When I heard about his passing, that image of him came to me: his passion and his good humor,” Lallana concluded.
The word of Gustavo Visentín
Another undisputed voice in the Córdoba tango scene also referred to Bálsamo. “He was a well-known pianist, great arranger, great director, notable composer, a person with multiple gifts and artistic talents and, in addition to that, an extraordinary human being,” said the singer of the Provincial Orchestra of Citizen Music.
“We will miss his presence very much. He left a mark on so many students through his work as a teacher at the La Colmena Music School, as well as in all the musical groups he was part of, from the most diverse genres,” he said.
To close, he remembered their joint work. “I was lucky enough to share many very important musical projects, tours abroad with that “Córdoba y el Tango” with which we recorded an album with Marcos Marchini and two with Efraín Bischoff, one of them in Europe as well.”
