is name was the same as the Mexican dictator, but he was Chilean. And he became famous in all the American continent playing Argentine tangos leading a tango orchestra that ended up competing, in phonographic recordings, with the best ones in Buenos Aires.

Porfirio Díaz's tango orchestra was identified with a type of sweet and easy tango with an extraordinary public acclaim. And the lovers of the Argentine song easily identify his danceable gentle style.

He was born in the city of Valparaíso. There he followed high school studies at the Liceo and at the Van Dooren Conservatory. He began his musical studies with so much success that very soon professor Strade pointed him out as his substitute.

At age 13 he was orchestra leader. And he traveled to Lima as such heading the group that accompanied Carlos Valicelli's company in 1933.

Three years later he joined the Chilean RCA-Victor's cast. A waltz that he had known in Peru was his debut's number. It was “Anita”, a great hit then. In his second recording date, Porfirio Díaz cut the foxtrot “A la Huacachina”, also from the Peruvian folklore. On the other side of the disc was a composition of his: the foxtrot “No me digas”. This recording was a cashbox hit in the whole continent and it consecrated the orchestra as one of the favorite ones of the Victor's international cast.

From then on, until the end of his career, many fruitful years for maestro Díaz came. In his homeland he carried out the most difficult engagements that an artist can be commissioned and always was successful in them.

This remarkable musician, that besides composer and pianist, was an extraordinary accordion and bandoneon player, appeared as soloist with these instruments to great success. And in Santiago he stood out as one of the jazz figures.

His recordings during all this time were among the top places in the Billboard chart of the Chilean RCA-Victor. And on radio shows and at theaters he had the chance to play backing the most remarkable international artists that visited Santiago. Here is a list of some of them: Libertad Lamarque, Mercedes Simone, Azucena Maizani, Rosita Quiroga, Rosita Quintana, Chola Luna, Sabina Olmos, Agustín Lara, Tito Guizar, Charlo, Mariano Mores, Carlos Roldán, Roberto Firpo, Osvaldo Fresedo, Hugo Del Carril, etc.

Indistinctly he has figured as great interpreter of the Argentine tango music, of the Chilean music and of the popular music of all the American countries, including porros and bambucos and Colombian pasillos that he recorded on Victor discs with popular acclaim.

Today famous leaders and soloists, like Federico Ojeda, Lucho Silva, member of the famous duo Los Perlas, and others, passed through the ranks of his orchestra. The following singers, according to a list contributed by maestro Díaz himself, belonged to his aggregation: Armando Bonansco, whom Díaz himself discovered in a Valparaíso highway when Bonansco was singing on a sand truck of his own; Jorge Abril, who died some years ago in a traffic accident; Agustín Copelli; Juan Carlos del Mar; Carlitos Morán; Armando Arolas; Jorge Omar; Nino Lardi, besides others that recorded with him, like Roberto Díaz and Pepe Aguirre.

The life of maestro Díaz is sprinkled with curious events. Edward and George, princes of England, and future kings, sang the tango “Adiós muchachos” to the beat of his orchestra during a visit that they made to Chile when he was invited to the Palacio de los Presidentes. They liked Porfirio Díaz very much. But he, contrarily, was disappointed with the bad intonation and incorrect Spanish pronunciation of their royal highnesses.

In 1938, he performed at the opening of the Estadio Nacional. Then he played his accordion standing on the seat of his motorcycle, because Porfirio Díaz was also an acrobat, and he conducted his orchestra while playing with his instrument hanging behind his neck.

He married the female singer Amelita Cortés who also sang tangos.

He was the dean of the Chilean RCA-Victor artists and one of the most loved figures of this label in the world.