e was born in Tigre, province of Buenos Aires, but when he was two years old his family moved to the neighborhood of Mataderos. Carlos Galván is one of those bandoneon players that grew up with the bellows on their knees since a very young age

At age 7 he began to study the musical instrument, at age 14 he was performing as a professional and when he was 18 he formed his first tango outfit: Los Cuatro para el Tango. With the latter he cut some records. Soon thereafter his show business career began to grow strong, revealing himself as an excellent leader of backup groups. He turned out one of the most sought-after players and he was the choice of the most outstanding singers.

In a brief and concise summary of his most important performances is unavoidable to mention:

Between 1965 and 1968 he was member of the Jorge Dragone’s orchestra whose vocalist was Argentino Ledesma. Between 1971 and 1974 he accompanied Hugo Del Carril, and appeared in theater seasons and in several tours. In 1976 he was starred in the movie Los chicos crecen impersonating Aníbal Troilo when he debutted with his orchestra.

In 1980, fronting his group, he began a busy show business schedule with Enrique Dumas. It lasted for 20 years and they toured the whole country and the United States as well.

Throughout all these years he went on with his job as accompanist of the most renowned singers, and we can mention: Floreal Ruiz, Alberto Marino, Edmundo Rivero, Miguel Montero, Roberto Goyeneche, Virginia Luque, Roberto Rufino, Jorge Valdez, María de la Fuente, Néstor Fabián, Hugo Marcel, and María Graña, among others.

As from 1987 he appeared at the venue Casablanca of San Telmo backing up the vocalists that appeared there. He was also musical director of the radio programs emceed by Silvio Soldán.

In 1992 he appeared in Expo-Sevilla alongside Beba Bidart. In 1993 along with Juan Carlos Granelli and María José Mentana he made a tour of the Caribbean area, visiting Caracas, Guayanas and Maracaibo.

He was musical director and orchestra conductor in the television program La Noche con Amigos.

In 1998 he was musical director and arranger for the recording of Simplemente Luisito, a CD recorded by the singer Luis Cardei. On most of the tracks he accompanies the singer with a trio.

He says of himself that he is «thoroughly Troilean» and that he was a close friend of Pichuco’s and also of his admired Alfredo Gobbi. Maybe on that and on his personality of truly porteño is based the secret of his bandoneon playing and his instrumental style that has that rare virtue of being modern and also keeps a dancing quality.

In 2003 he traveled to Japan where he and his orchestra toured over forty cities. With them Enrique Dumas was as guest artist. With that aggregation on his comeback to Argentina he recorded the compact disc Falta Envido y Truco.

In 2005 he accompanied the singer Patricia Torre with his quintet in the disc Nostalgia de Tango. In he played with his orchestra at the El Viejo Almacén.