e was born in Cerro Largo, Uruguay and died in Burzaco, province of Buenos Aires.

In his time he was regarded as one of the greatest guitar talents and, surely, the best concert guitar player in the River Plate. However, he did not reach the popular acclaim he deserved. Possibly he was more concerned, due to his training, with the musical facts and, later, with copyright, than being in touch with glory. Furthermore he was fond of country life which best suited his temper.

«I was born at that town by chance. My parents had traveled to buy livestock and my birth took place earlier. From there we moved to Carmelo, the town I like and love. Carmelo has its charm, its romantic story. Much later I founded conservatories and became inspector of military bands.»

When he arrived in Buenos Aires with his parents he was sent to the Williams big house, in San Telmo, where the students who came from the interior were accommodated. There he attended grade school, high school and studied music.

He was at the conservatory until he was 17. On holidays he used to visit his relatives in the countryside. More precisely, to Pardo station where his Dad owned large pieces of land. There he met, according to his own words, «tough people like Matón Cabrera, El Zurdo, and also the guitarist Banegas, who was from La Plata. The latter were several brothers. They had a temper so peculiar that when they had no one who to fight with they used to threaten to stab each other».

At the large house he was acquainted with great music teachers. He graduated as teacher in composition and harmony. «As a brother of my mother’s lived in Naples I was able to travel to Europe and entered the San Pietro Omaiello conservatory, the most renowned in the world at that time. There, to my disappointment, I was accepted in seventh year. So I had to study for three more years to graduate. At the beginning I was angry but later I realized it was fair because about what they asked me I knew nothing».

«Maestro Pierangelo then gave me valuable advice with a logical reflection. He told me: «Look, Italy has 2000 years of culture and Argentina has only 100. There is a great difference. You have done enough, don’t worry you’ll become a very good teacher». I was disappointed because I had thought I knew everything and I was wrong.

«I did not play a specific instrument but played several ones like cello, flute, piano, mandolin and, of course, organ, the father of all instruments. I also studied orchestral and band conduction».

Mario’s dream, like many other friends’ was playing at the Teatro Colón. And that dream came true on November 4, 1934 when he performed at the Colón with a hundred guitars. An unforgettable evening. «I patiently prepared the group, I presented a repertoire with Viennese waltzes, Korsakov’s pieces, and later my compositions: “La tropilla” and those country folk tunes. It was the greatest evening in my career».

Now with Carlos Gardel, the two working for Max Glücksmann, they suggested Ignacio Corsini, who was appearing at a circus with his wife, to join that enterprise to make recordings and appear at theaters and so to earn 1.300 pesos a night. A large amount in comparison with what he earned.

He came to know Glücksmann in a recital of classical music he performed at the La Argentina saloon. A friend of his introduced the impresario to him and told him: «Che, Ruso, would you like to hear music of your country?», «All right —replied the impresario—, who’s the pianist?» He could not believe it was a guitarist. He bet a dinner for all the boys that he was unable to play Korsakov on guitar. Of course, he had to pay it».

He heard Gardel and José Razzano for the first time at the Armenonville, the very evening of the concert. They arrived with Glücksmann and some other friends. He also sang and some of the people present praised him: “What a voice this guy has”. «No, dear —I replied— it’s a voice like anyone else’s. The fact is that the Italians taught me how to use it». He alluded to his studies in Italy.

At the end of the show the impresario suggested working with him and Pardo agreed. He signed a contract in the early 1917.

«I asked him about composers in order to prepare a repertoire. He answered me that there were a few: Salinas, Villoldo. I talked to him about Chopin, Beethoven. «¡Ahhh! —replied he— you mean the classical ones. Mr. Pardo, that isn’t interesting. If you insist on what you’re doing you’ll starve. Here there’s no public for that». I asked him to think it over, I had been studying in Italy, I was regarded as the first guitarist of Latin America. «You’re wrong —he replied— you’re going to charm them, furthermore I hired those kids that sang before you did». While he was saying this he handed me twenty thousand pesos. This is in advance for five years as exclusive artist. At that moment Mario Pardo and his dreams about the Teatro Colón were over».

Pardo composed around 450 numbers, some of them are the «silly things», as he once had called them, but which resulted in very important sums of money.

Furthermore, he was musical advisor for Glücksmann and appeared on all the radios from 1921, except for Radio Belgrano. He was art advisor of the Prieto and Argentina radio stations. His friend Eduardo Arolas dedicated to him “La guitarrita”. He committed to disc around 150 numbers of varied beats. From “La cumparsita”, in two versions, one with vocals and another as an instrumental, to “Singing In The Rain”. He also added lyrics to instrumentals, for example “Sans souci” and he changed its title to “Cuando la suerte se inclina”.

On one occasion Gardel told him that he would like to play guitar like he did and Pardo answered: “And I would like to sing like you”.