he cities of the interior of the province of Buenos Aires always brought great figures to tango in all its expressions. One more case of this constant is Mario Lagos, an excellent singer born in Chivilcoy, a booming city in the province of Buenos Aires located 164 km west of the Federal Capital and which had already given to tango no less than Pascual Contursi and Argentino Galván.

Already with a clear vocation in his childhood and teen years, he began to sing in his hometown and in the nearby city of Alberti until he, at age fourteen, decided to settle in the neighborhood of Flores where he worked in different jobs besides his tango activity.

Then, unexpectedly, while he was in the military service in Campo de Mayo, something happened which led him to bohemian life and to the full practice of his vocation. Here is his account:

«Encouraged by Salvador Villa, an army band sergeant and orchestra leader at the La Paz tearoom where a singing contest was held, I appeared in my soldier uniform and won the contest.

«I began to sing with the orchestra led by Villa at the Café El Argentino, the Confitería Richmond on Suipacha Street, the Café Munich of Boedo, the Café Copacabana, the Bar Benigno and at the Western Bar where Héctor Mauré suggested me adopting the stage name Mario Lagos instead of Mario Daer which I had chosen for my appearances up to that time.

«When I split with Villa I started singing as soloist at the Bar El Olmo and at the Hogar de la empleada. Later I joined the orchestra fronted by Carlos Ventura, an aggregation which included great musicians and with which I experienced beautiful times.

«In the late 1951 I won the audition held on Radio El Mundo which had a large number of contestants after several previous rounds which were paid. By that time I had regular appearances on Radio Libertad and at several venues with the guitarists Vila, Fontana, Moreno and Arteaga. Along with the female singer Elder Barber we opened the Bar Montecarlo in the province of San Luis and the barroom with the same name in Río Cuarto (Córdoba) where I had a fairly long tenure because I used to receive a good acclaim.

«In this province I began to appear at different venues: the Centroamérica and the Centenario, among others. On one of those evenings Armando Bo heard me and officially announced that I would sing and play a part in his next movie. Although I was reluctant, Bo insisted and made an appointment to meet in the studios of the movie company in Buenos Aires, on 1907 Lavalle Street.

«When I went out of the studio, on Corrientes Street, I met Emilio González who told me that Enrique Francini and Armando Pontier that had heard me on the radio were looking for me. I didn’t know Pontier’s address but I knew Francini’s: Riobamba 30. And I went there. A friend of mine, Dr. Domingo Falabella, who was also a friend of the maestro’s accompanied me. The thing with Armando Bo faded away but I was lucky with Francini-Pontier because they liked me and made me join their orchestra. I made my debut in 1953 at the Club Estrella Roja of Ciudadela by singing the tango “Silbando”.

«Those were times with plenty of job: Radio El Mundo, tours throughout the country and appearances at the Picadilly, Montecarlo and Sans Souci.

«With Francini-Pontier I remained one year and recorded two pieces: in September 1953, the tango “Una canción” and, in January 1954, the waltz “Caricias perdidas”. As for the latter there is a story. The RCA-Victor company was on Bartolomé Mitre Street and did not possess the present technology. It was a very large room. I saw the technicians talking to Pontier. I was placed far from the orchestra and they began to put canvases above me as it were a tent. Later I came to know it was a question of sound. The recording was cut with the orchestra far away and I among the canvases. Fortunately I knew the orchestra arrangement by heart. I had to enter after hearing a little piano note played by Juan José Paz. And so it was recorded, the orchestra at a certain distance, I was in a tent and everything was made in just one take. I think it turned out all right».

Up to this point we have had Mario Lagos’s words who had a one-year tenure with that orchestra and later started as soloist and appeared in several locals in Buenos Aires and toured the interior of the country.

In 1956 he joined the Julián Castillo orchestra until 1958 and then he began a long tour of Brazil, appearing in São Paulo, Curitiba and Porto Alegre. In 1961 he returned to Buenos Aires. He was so anguished due to the long absence that, when he saw the Obelisk, he began to weep and told his wife: «I won’t sing any more!». After that he devoted himself to the advertising activity and had the idea of returning to his Chivilcoy hometown. And so it was, in 1999 he came back and kept on working in advertising in the local newspaper: La Razón.

But his promise of quitting singing was not fully accomplished because his friends insisted on his appearance in events, especially for the evenings at the Confitería La Perla where several times he shared the bill with his brother Tito Bagnone, also a singer.

As a finale for this short portrayal I want to highlight that Mario Lagos himself told me the first part in April 1998; and that from Chivilcoy his granddaughter Marisol told me about his latter years.