ike many musicians devoted to tango who were born in the 1900s and 1910s, Julio was born on the other bank of the Río de la Plata (River Plate), in the city of Montevideo.

A few years before celebrating his thirtieth birthday he traveled to many places abroad and was based in Spain where he was member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid (Madrid Symphony Orchestra). But when the Spanish civil war reached its worst stage, in 1936, he came back to Buenos Aires.

Conquered by tango, he became associated to an orchestra leader that was beginning to be known: Osvaldo Pugliese. The appearances with the sextets led by Alfredo Gobbi and Elvino Vardaro had come to an end; those were wonderful experiences which unfortunately did not last long and were even far from cutting recordings. It was beginning the stage of trying luck by putting together one’s own orchestra. His first one was in 1937 with some of the members of the sextets: for example the bandoneonist Alfredo Calabró and the violinist Antonio Puleio. Also included were Julio Carrasco on violin, Luis Bonnat on bandoneon and Aniceto Rossi on double bass, plus Pugliese on piano. The debut was at the café Germinal on the number 942 on the then narrow Corrientes Street, with a relative acclaim.

The new and definitive attempt would come in 1939, precisely on August 11, with their debut at the café El Nacional on 980 Corrientes Street. In his twenty-nine year tenure, until 1966, Julio Carrasco played in the orchestra as second or third violinist and arranger. For a long time he was as well a sort of administrator because he kept the accounts of the orchestra which always worked as a cooperative. Throughout this long period he kept with Osvaldo Pugliese an excellent working relationship. They shared political and musical ideals but they did not become friends.

Regretfully, he never recorded a solo, which today would be useful for us to be aware of his vibrato, because his sound was blended into the orchestral mass within the string section. Anyhow, his peers state that he was a very good player, a violinist classically trained with wide technical capabilities. He had the chance to be promoted to soloist when Enrique Camerano quit but he did not want to accept that position. (His son Néstor told me about these details some years ago).

He joined the orchestra sharing the string section with Aniceto Rossi and Alcides Rossi on double bass, the violinists Enrique Camerano and Jaime Tursky; later Oscar Herrero and Emilio Balcarce. Therafter were added Francisco Sanmartino and, later, Norberto Bernasconi on viola, Adriano Fanelli and Enrique Lannoo on cello. And with the bandoneon players Enrique Alessio, Luis Bonnat, Alberto Armengol, Osvaldo Ruggiero, Esteban Gilardi, Mario Demarco, Roberto Peppe, Oscar Castagniaro, Jorge Caldara, Ismael Spitalnik, Víctor Lavallén, Julián Plaza and Arturo Penón. When he split with the orchestra he was replaced no less than by Raúl Dominguez (aka Finito), an excellent soloist that previously had stood out in the Francisco Rotundo orchestra with unforgettable solos like, for example, the tango “Milonguera”.

His work as composer and arranger was very important and he left anthological renditions for the songbook of the orchestra. In 1946 he wrote the chart for the tango “Fuimos” that Roberto Chanel recorded. In 1951 he wrote the violin counter melody for the tango “Pasional”, in an arrangement by Roberto Peppe that Alberto Morán recorded to great acclaim. The solo was played and recorded twice by Enrique Camerano. In 1954 he wrote two tango arrangements for the singer Juan Carlos Cobos: “No es más que yo” and “Te aconsejo que me olvides”. He did the same with “Silencio” in 1959 for the singer Jorge Maciel.

His compositions deserve a special chapter. He himself orchestrated them with the collaboration of Osvaldo Ruggiero. They are a trilogy of beautiful tangos: the first is from 1945, “Flor de tango”; with Decarean roots, with the influence of that school and that style. The piano is announcing with short interventions as soloist the appearance of the violin soloist that will sing his counterline up to the final variation of the bandoneon quartet that, at that time, included Ruggiero, Caldara, Gilardi and Castagniaro.

In 1950 he released “De floreo”, with less rhythmical impact than the previous one. It is thicker in its general structure, with a different harmonic conception and it contains a masterful violin solo played by Camerano. It does not have the characteristic final variation by the bandoneons but a sketch of a few bars. It belongs to the group of the tangos released at the beginning of that decade with similar forms: with less stress on the melodic aspect and strongly harmonic, with a quite polished orchestral work, like “El refrán” by Roberto Peppe, “El tobiano” by Emilio Balcarce, “Don Atilio” by Pugliese and “Don Aniceto” by Esteban Gilardi.

The trilogy is closed with “Mi lamento”, recorded in 1954. Here again Julio Carrasco repeats the equation or we may also think that he found his identity as composer. He wrote another profound and heartfelt violin solo for showcasing maestro Enrique Camerano.

He took part of the historical travels of Pugliese to Russia and China in 1959 and to Japan in 1965.

In 1966, at age fifty-nine he decided to retire, to devote himself to his family. But he continued studying and playing violin at home, without the demands of a professional job. His career was exemplary, silent and widely pondered by his colleagues and by all of us that love tango.

This musician born in Uruguay, professionally trained in Spain and finally conquered by Argentine tango, passed away in Buenos Aires at age 81 with the peaceful thought of having accomplished his mission. Here is our homage and recognition.