Cacho Castaña
Humberto Vicente Castagna was born in the Flores neighborhood on June 11, 1942. He was the third child of the marriage between Don Antonio Castagna, an Italian shoe merchant, and Rosa Curra. Cacho Castaña's vocation and love for music began in childhood. At the age of 6 he began to study music at a musical academy located on Manuel Ricardo Trelles and Avenida Gaona, in the Flores neighborhood and at the age of 14 he was already a piano teacher. He began as a pianist in tango orchestras, and in the second half of the 1960s he appeared as a singer in the so-called "omnibus" program (which lasted more than six hours live) of “Sábados circulares”, which dedicated its first hour to new voices, on Channel 9.
In 1972, he formed the group Beto y los Huracanes, along with Bingo Reyna (guitar), with Kuky (drums), Alfredo (rhythm guitar), Juan (bass), taking his first steps as a vocalist.
As a musician and author he has composed unforgettable songs for the collective memory of Buenos Aires, and has allowed himself to move comfortably in rhythms that range from tango to bailanta. His most recognized tangos are: "Garganta con arena", where he pays a heartfelt tribute to the "Polaco Goyeneche"; "Tita de Buenos Aires", dedicated to the endearing Tita Merello; "La gata Varela" dedicated to the singer Adriana Varela; “Cacho de Buenos Aires”, and with Rubén Juarez “What a tango you have to sing”. And of the hits closest to the rhythm of the bailanta are: "They call him the matador", "They want to kill the thief" and “The queen of the bailanta”
In 1984 he published in his album “Mujeres…mujeres”, his legendary tango: “Café La Humedad”, in honor of a bar that he frequented in his youth. At first it was “Bar el Progreso” and then it was renamed, in 1968, “Café Bar”. Cacho described it with blue glass and yellowed curtains due to the passage of time. In an interview he said: “The bathroom had no door and every time it rained, almost more water fell inside than outside.” And he continues: “What's more, when it stopped raining on the street, the drops were still falling in the premises.” Hence the green cloth on the pool tables was always damp, to honor the nickname by which he was known in the neighborhood. It was located on one of the four corners of Avenida Gaona and Boyacá, on the border of Flores Norte. “It was in the ochava that is diagonal to the Lumiton bar, which still exists,” he stated in an interview.
In addition to music, another of his passions was his club, San Lorenzo de Almagro.
In cinema, he left his marks, as an actor and musical composer, in numerous films such as: "The World Belongs to the Young", "El Cabo Tijereta", "The Successes of Love", "The Carp of Love", "The beach of love", "The disco of love", "Rhythm, love and spring", "Open day and night" and "Congratulations".
In 2005 he received the Diploma of Merit from the Konex Popular Music Awards in the discipline "Tango Authors / Composers" as one of the 5 best of the decade in Argentina.
In 2008 he composed with Valeria Lynch the song: “Por amor a vos”, which would be the musical curtain for the telecomedy Por amor a vos, on Channel 13. This song won the Martín Fierro award for best original song.
In 2013 he participated as a jury in the entertainment program "Your face sounds to me", broadcast on the Telefé channel. At the same time, he shared the table of "Good Boys", a television program with Coco Basile, Guillermo Coppola and Bambino Veira, hosted by Beto Casella on C5N.
That same year, on October 10, he released his album: "Aquellos Viejos Amores", which contains, according to Cacho, "a handful of tormenting tangos", among which are "Bajo Un Cielo de Estrellas" and "Romance de Barrio". ", in duet with Adriana Varela. It was officially presented in November of that year at the Gran Rex Theater, on Av. Corrientes 860, in the San Nicolás neighborhood.
On June 11, 2016, on his birthday, Cacho Castaña opened his own theater bar “Café la Humedad”, located at 2540 Carlos Calvo Street, in the San Cristóbal neighborhood.
On April 28, 2017 he released his album "En Vivo en el Gran Rex", in which Adriana Varela and Palito Ortega participated. And the presentation took place on May 8 in his own theater bar.
Also in 2017, Cacho recorded a new version of “Cacho de Buenos Aires” with the musical group La Beriso, filmed in his theater bar.
And on October 6 of that same year, his album "Cacho and Friends of Him: Inolvidable Concert-Live in Buenos Aires 2016" was released, recorded with the symphony orchestra at the Teatro Colón. Great colleagues and friends participated: Raúl Lavié, Marcela Morelo, Alejandro Lerner, Tini Stoessel, Palito Ortega, Adriana Varela, Sandra Mihanovich, Daniel Agostini, Ariel Puchetta de Ráfaga, Gladys La Bomba Tucumana, Rocío Quiroz and Valeria Lynch.
On October 15, 2019, after a long fight against a lung disease, he died at the age of 77, in the Los Arcos Sanatorium, where he had been hospitalized since September 28, due to pneumonia.
Cacho Castaña left a great artistic legacy that includes: 25 albums as a soloist, ten editions of compilations of his best songs and the creation of 35 singles as a composer, singer-songwriter and songwriter, plus his career as an actor in 12 films and several TV shows. television.
References:
https://www.cmtv.com.ar/biografia/show.php?bnid=1784&banda=Cacho_Casta%F1a
http://rockolafree.com/ARG-B.htm
https://www.clarin.com/ciudades/bar-vive-tango_0_SJwWcfvjwme.html
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacho_Casta%C3%B1a
06/2021
