e was only nineteen but he came lately, there was litle of tango remaining. The orchestras, with few exceptions, had disappeared or were reduced to a minimal number of players. The soloists, except Roberto Goyeneche —still at a brilliant stage— and somebody else with a trio or two guitars were resisting.

The large number of jazz, tropical or all-rhythm groups that used to appear alongside the tango orchestras were only a memory. A few venues of second level were the survivors. The carnival celebrations were limited to a pair of streamers and a forgotten mask.

On television the genre painfully stayed in a show backed by the money contributed by some wealthy merchants: Grandes Valores del Tango. This was the panorama in the late 60s which was sad for those who knew better times of our tango music.

And then Aníbal appeared when he won a contest organized by the Municipality of San Martín in the locality of José León Suárez, a town near Buenos Aires city. According to what he told us, a woman member of the board asked him to sing a tango piece, he sang it and she succeeded in influencing the board into letting the prize for him.

He also told us that one day he was singing at a local of his neighborhood where a young couple was in the audience. After hearing him the boy told him that his father led an orchestra and needed a singer. He was Edmundo D’Angelo and his group was Buenos Aires Tango. In 1969, with this aggregation, he made his professional debut in the city of San Martín. D’Angelo was noticeably influenced by Troilo and played charts written by Julián Plaza.

Since then he has appeared when the occasion was possible. The Centro Lucense of Olivos, some coteries and, of course, on Channel 9 and the mythical Grandes Valores del Tango in which many singers paraded singing one or two numbers but for them was important to get wider exposure. It was 1972 and, in that program, he came to know the singer Dante Rossi with whom he learnt very much, according to his own words. The latter had recorded a number with Domingo Federico and had been vocalist of the aggregation led by Graciano Gómez.

Thereafter he made a tour of Colombia and, in the 80s he traveled nearly every year to Ecuador where he was a boom: «I felt as if I were Gardel», he told me smilingly.

Due to his good voice and handsome appearance he was becoming well-known, and appeared at the Caño 14, Michelángelo, El viejo Almacén, La Casa de Carlos Gardel and at other venues of Buenos Aires city and, on April 2, 1981 he joined the José Basso orchestra and had a three-year tenure. The other vocalists were Héctor Darío and Carlos Rossi.

Regretfully, with this orchestra he recorded nothing. It is worthwhile mentioning that, between 1949 and 1970, Basso recorded 243 renditions, some of them in Japan. He came back to the recording studios in 1983 to cut a vinyl record with 14 pieces, all instrumentals.

His only record, in his own label, included 10 classic numbers accompanied by the orchestra fronted by Domingo Moles. The guest artists that played in it were: Leopoldo Federico, Mario Abramovich, Eduardo Walczak, Antonio Agri and José Colángelo.

He made some tours of South American countries and, between 1986 and 1989, was in Europe visitig Portugal, Spain and Italy. In 1995 he appeared at a festival organized by the Secretaría de Cultura de la Municipalidad de Buenos Aires. The EPSA label re-issued his album twice.

In 1997 he, with the pianist Mario Marmo and other artists, presented tango music for the first time in the Arab Emirates, precisely, in Dubai. Months later they returned to that place. On his comeback the trio appeared several times.

We have to highlight a curiosity: his appearance as soloist at the Teatro San Martín on October 1, 2005 accompanied by the Salam-Shalom orchestra, an aggregation lined up by musicians descendants of Arabs and Jews. In 2008 he was present at the Second Tango Festival of the city of San Isidro.

Ricardo García Blaya has told us that, in April 2012, he had the chance of meeting him and holding a short talk. He had the impression he had met a true authentic porteño.

This is, in sum, the story of this gentle singer that, as he himself recognizes, appeared in a late period of tango and that today, retired from show business, we are lucky to be able of listening to his renditions on his record.