e was one of those artists who were followed by a very special audience, in general, not very much fond of tango. Regretfully, he left us without the recognition he deserved.

He used to sing with a feeling rarely seen, with an intimate style that, I think, was related to those of Horacio Molina and Luis Filipelli.

According to Mariano del Mazo: «Caracol was a genre in himself. He sang like he talked and he talked like a sorcerer. He reinvented each song in an intrepid way, like a bird that patiently flies over its prey to later fling itself in free fall, in an unexpected but exact manner. Caracol always fell well. ‘I have a metronome in my head,’ he used to say. He was an exceptional singer, but above all he was a musician. His devilish inner rhythm was complemented by an incorruptible melodic sense: suffice it to listen to his rendition of “Naranjo en flor” on the album shared with Tango Chino, the duo by the guitarist Edgardo Rodríguez and the pianist Fulvio Giraudo».

Roberto was born in the city of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires. At age 6 he began to sing with the Orquesta Infantil Favero, and made his early tours, sponsored by the unforgettable Fidel Pintos. Since then he has walked a long road, passing through other music styles like folk music and melodic music.

In 1979 he was invited by Chico Novarro to appear at the successful show Canciones con historia.

In the 80’s he again appeared as a soloist singing tangos, and sharing the bill with Osvaldo Tarantino, Chabuca Granda, Sebastián Piana, Eladia Blázquez, Héctor Stamponi, Juan Falú, Daniel Riolobos, Susana Rinaldi and the Astor Piazzolla Quintet, among others.

In 1988 he joined the pianist and arranger of many of his songs, Tato Finocchi, with whom he worked until the late 2002.

«He was an outsider, due rather to disdain than because of his own decision. After a life devoted to bohemia and the most disparate trades — storekeeper, carpenter, metal worker, hired car driver — after acquiring an unfathomable prestige at certain cabarets and cheap locales of his city — La Plata — he was encouraged to cut a record by Juan Falú. His emergence took place in 1998, and Caracol did not stop. He recorded around ten albums». (Mariano del Mazo)

In fact, there were eleven compact discs: Compás de espera (1998), Caracol canta tangos (1999), Mucho más que dos (2001), Algo diferente (2003), Destino de canto (2004), Cantar (2006), Son cosas del amor (2008), Tango Chino & Caracol (2010), Manzi para Caracol (2010), Milongamente (2011) and Caracol guitarra y voz (2013).

He appeared at the most important tango venues in Buenos Aires: Gandhi, El Club del Vino, La Trastienda, Clásica y Moderna, Torquato Tasso, and others.

He made tours of the interior of the country: Córdoba, Santa Fe, Mar del Plata, Rosario and Bariloche. And abroad: he went to Belgium, Holland, Spain, the United States, Brazil and Mexico. He appeared in several of the tango festivals in Buenos Aires and also in Spain.

Many were the musicians that backed him: Tato Finocchi, Joaquín Galeliano (piano), Daniel Martínez Priccolo (bandoneon), Adriana González, Adrián Fanello (double bass), Pablo Giménez (electric bass), Marcelo Nisinman (bandoneon), Pablo Raninqueo, María Elgarte (flute), Roberto Calvo, Néstor Gómez, Hernán Ruiz, José Teixidó (guitar), Federico Arreseygor, Leo Scaglia (drums), Hugo Figueras, Lisandro Giménez (cello), the Dúo Tanguido (Guido Briscioli and Guido Di Blasi).

He passed away without prior notice, silently, that was his heart’s command. Maybe with the passing of time, and that is my deep wish, the public will recognize his importance in tango or, at least, his effort to do something different. Unfortunately, he died trying.