Edmundo Rivero He was called Edmundo because his mother, an avid reader, He named it after the character from The Count of Monte Cristo.. Son of a railroad worker from the Puente Alsina train station, he never stood out for his physical appearance, quite the opposite. A long “napia” and features similar to those of a cartoon earned him the nickname “the Ugly”.
To get an idea of his appearance, there was a time when, together with his friend Benjamín Achavál, they called random numbers on the phone. If he attended to a young woman, he would sing a romantic song to her.
edmundo rivero.avif
Although, far from suffering from it, he did not flinch, because he had a long way to go; that of music. “Well, I’m not going to say that I’m a pretty guy. My napia was always in front of my feet, my chin was prominent, and when you see the photos you understand the passing of the years. Although neither the years nor the ugliness worried me never”he acknowledged on one occasion.
Music for movies, books, tango and a unique style
Edmundo studied guitar and singing at the conservatory, although his training went much further than that. His two uncles cultivated a curiosity in the little boy – one was the general accountant of the Government House and organized meetings with poets and singers, while the other encouraged him to read books. Strong Soul, Lugones, Espronceda and Edgar Allan Poeamong other authors.
“Singing is a congenital emotional manifestation. My training is due to my parents, my uncles and the payadores and improvisers that I listened to,” Rivero expressed in an interview, who confessed that although he listened to Gardel on the radio, his inspirations were other. He was able to absorb the opera of Schubert, Beethoven, R.ossini and Wagnerand then pour it into the tango.
Along with the study, He was already a renowned guitarist in his area, Pompeya, and he played in taverns, radio stations and hotels. “The first salary I received on the radio was the product of a barter between the station and an advertising company: a fish!… although I had to choose between silverside and hake”. Although the money did not arrive in the amounts he expected, he was happy, forming separate duos with her siblings, Eva and Aníbal, and accompanying artists such as Nelly Omar and Francisco Amor.
Thanks to his shows, he was able to discover the world of the night, where he met all types of people and where he discovered the vocabulary that changed his style forever: slang. Furthermore, it was for him a way of living, of belonging: “People at night are broader, they are not so rushed, they are more sincere. Contrary to what many say – that at night the desire to fight for life is lost – I think it is the other way around. At night people enjoy the effort of that daily struggle.”
Edmundo was scoring silent films in a cinema in Avellaneda when, on one occasion, he decided to give voice to what he was playing. The result? An angry audience, who shouted and stamped their feet furiously. In any case, that did not discourage him, rather it revealed to him that his vocation was singing.
Frustrated by the lack of opportunities, he became a clerk in the War Arsenal Administrative Service, although that did not last long. When your friend Emilio Karstulovicformer car racer and radio owner The Voice of the Air and from the magazine Tuningcalled him to sing in a program, he did not hesitate to try it again.
Thanks to this opportunity came the call of Horacio Salgánan arranger as good as he was revolutionary, since he composed in rhythms that were not accepted by people at that time. Thus an unusual duo was born, described as follows by Rivero: “Salgán’s music, his orchestrations, at that time were revolutionary and I had a bass voice, something unheard of at a time when all tango singers exhibited a tenor range”.
They both knew about the rejection, although this was not the occasion. The lyrics in lunfardo key, a subject that Edmundo highly approved, floated on the cushion of sound that Salgán provided him. The singer’s voice was so deep that it surprised everyone. Thus, with a dozen recordings under his belt and his mark on tangos such as Sur, El Ultimo Organito and Yo te bendigo, he arrived in the world of cinema in the 1950s: he appeared in titles such as Heaven in your hands (1950), To the rhythm of your lie (1951), leather ball (1963), The impure goddess (1964), Buenos Aires, summer 1912 (1966) and Argentinísima II (1973).
The success that eluded him for so long finally arrived. In 1969 inaugurated The Old Warehousean iconic tango center located in the San Telmo neighborhood, through which both national and international figures passed. In 1985 received the Platinum Konex as Best Male Tango Singer. Cardiomyopathy in January 1986 It ended the life of the alternative suburbanite, of the deep voice that emerged among so much tenor.
Source: Ambito

I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.