eighborhood artist and the Internet magic

He was born in Buenos Aires, in the neighborhood of Parque de los Patricios, on Aconquija Street, almost Los Telares thoroughfare, facing the Club Piraña soccer field. His father, Alberto Piluso, was an Italian born in Calabria that worked as a lathe operator. His mother, Rosa Turano, was an Argentine, daughter of a Calabrian mother and criollo father.

At that house where Tito was brought up —the midwife gave him that name when he was born— his uncle Romeo Piluso also lived. The latter was a musician, flutist of the Teatro Colón and member of the orchestra headed by Adolfo Pérez “Pocholo”. Furthermore, he appeared in the musical El Patio de La Morocha alongside Aníbal Troilo and played in other important aggregations: Mariano Mores and the Tubatango group, among others.

As a child Tito was growing in an environment that breathed tango. In his backyard he used to witness the rehearsals of his uncle surrounded by bandoneons and guitars.

And so he began to sing —in family parties— tangos and canzonettas, his other passion. Another uncle of his, Olindo Piluso, used to sing Neapolitan canzonettas at those reunions.

He studied piano and music at a conservatory of his neighborhood, on Deán Funes and Caseros, with the teacher Sara Rubio de Bono. He appeared at several concerts at the Teatro Catalán of Buenos Aires where he stood out due to his pleasantness and ability to face the audience. He excited the audience in such a way that he often had to give encores and he as well was mentioned in the publications of the entity and in some journal of that time.

He neither is or was an outstanding pianist but he used to accompany himself when he sang some tangos, thanks to his musical ear, like his father did when he sang or accompanied his brother on bandoneon.

In 1950 the family moved to the neighborhood of Boedo. When he was thirteen, after finishing grade school, he entered the industrial school Nº 5 Fray Luis Beltrán of Barracas where he graduated as mechanical technician.

By that time Tito had always sung for his own pleasure and for his friends. In the mid- 60s he studied with maestro Eduardo Bonessi for a short time.

Later he continued with the tenor singer Ricardo Domínguez who discovered his operatic tenor range and suggested him that he should, after studying with him, go to the Teatro Colón school to become a professional tenor singer. But Tito admitted to his teacher that he preferred to sing tangos.

On one occasion, another student of Domínguez, Enzo Valentino, heard Bardi and asked him if he had made any recordings. Soon thereafter he handed him a homemade recording on tape that Enzo delivered to Osvaldo Amura, agent of Alfredo De Angelis, who sent it to Odeon.

So he signed a contract with that company. He recorded four numbers, all accompanied by guitar group: “Una lágrima”, “Piedad”, “Malevaje” and the waltz “Riojana mía” by Ambrosio Río (1969). By that time Tito worked in his father’s workshop in Villa Soldati.

Regretfully, health problems and lack of experience in a very competitive milieu made him quit his career in 1970 but he went on with his singing studies.

In 1980 he resumed his vocation, his voice had matured and he was in the best age for singing. He began by appearing at the Peña El Organito run by Rubén Pesce and Raúl Lafuente and also at the La Bodega del Café Tortoni for several years.

He appeared on radios accompanied by guitar players, among whom we can mention: Lorenzo Ranieri, José Francisco Savignano, Atilio Eduardo Pascale, Jorge Scigliano, Jorge Juárez and Tito Douzón. They were all guitarists from the outskirts, with a Gardelian influence to the bone and with whom he recorded, either in studios or in homemade recordings.

In April 1983 he returned to a recording studio to cut a long-playing disc with pieces by Argentino Gutiérrez, with two numbers: the tango “Sueño gardeliano” and the waltz “Las notas de mi canto”, both by Gutiérrez. The latter in collaboration with Ticchol; the accompaniment was in charge of the guitarists Scigliano, Juárez and Pedro Fazzari.

It is important to say that he recorded extensively at home —until 1996— with an excellent professional machine in chrome cassettes in which he gathered an invaluable material. He was always backed up by the eminent guitarists and great friends, Juárez and Scigliano. When the latter died was replaced by Carlos Loiza Gulla. In 2000 he recorded four videos for the Solo Tango TV channel and afterwards he quit singing for good.

As from 2006, thanks to the teachings of his cousin, the pianist Daniel Vicente Turano —an Argentine artist based in Sweden— and his own personal initiative, Bardi learnt computing and, in that way, he turned those recordings into digital files.

Thereafter, his friends, after realizing the excellent results, suggested him to upload his numbers on a website and so Bardi’s renditions spread worldwide and made the singer no longer an anonymous artist. Furthermore, those four videos for the cable channel were rated with 5 stars in Youtube.

It is noteworthy and curious at the same time how some material that could have been lost forever, thanks to the impressive phenomenon of the Internet, was saved and, in that way, a modest but talented artist of a neighborhood succeeded in becoming an international star.

Research and text: Horacio Di Giuseppe.