Francisco Canaro

He was so poor he never went to school. As a boy, he worked in a can factory. He built a violin out of wood and the remains of an oil can and taught himself to play. Completely self educated, he learned the old tangos on the streets and in the dance halls of Buenos Aires, and transformed the music through his orchestras.

1915 and on to Paris

By 1915, his orchestra dominated the tango scene. He was asked to play at all the major tango events. Soon he was operating three orchestras, and had become a major financial success. His orchestra performed in 1925 Paris to packed halls, and he remained in Europe for a decade. He was years ahead of his time: He brought vocalists to sing with his orchestra before microphones were invented. He created a 32 piece orchestra, never before seen in tango. In the infancy of the recording industry, Canaro left behind at least 3792 recordings of his music! ( See Christoph Lanner's Discography of Francisco Canaro.)

The Singer, the Gun and the Convent

In 1938, Canaro's wife walked into a recording studio and found a young singer sitting on Canaro's knees. Mrs. Canaro pulled a gun from her bag, and pointed it at the singer. The singer ran away and later took refuge with her mother in a convent. This incident is not mentioned in Canaro's memoirs , which he published in 1956 with the title Mis 50 años con el tango (My 50 years with tango).