Fiction and reality, 46 years after the day in which "Pichuco fell from the hands of the bandoneon"
- Maybe 'cause I was made in tangos ... (*)
-Maybe 'cause back when faces were not yet faces and faces had no names, I saw your face in the cover of an album my old man treasured.
- Maybe 'cause aunty "Melucha" taught me to sing that lullaby ... "sleep, my little Pedro, because, wrapped by skies and clouds, King Baltasar is about to arrive..." (**) - Maybe 'cause mom sad dad worshipped you.
- Maybe 'cause they say you were so kind and human that they could spot you and your belly any warm summer morning in the beach of "la feliz" (***), always hanging with your beloved Zita.
- Maybe 'cause of your reputation of being a good friend now makes me imagine you joking with Cátulo, arguing with Edmundo, jamming the notes of an unborn "Sur" right next to Homero, maybe hiding you could foretell you'll write "Responso" for him. And I imagine all of it in those long tango nights with my own beloved friends. - Maybe 'cause when Edmundo left the orchestra to nest in his own home you gave him the sweetest farewell; "Edmundo departs remaining a friend".
- Maybe 'cause the sound of your "Yuyo Verde" turned on with the lights of the studio where I danced my first tango, and with the sunrise of a barn where I taught my first lesson overseas.
- Maybe 'cause the variación you played for "Quejas..." is, to my ears, the most touching expression of nostalgia and hope.
- Maybe 'cause you're so unique and contagious that I could teach my latest love how to love you as much as I do, and I know that whenever your songs are played, a piece of me will dance with him.
- Maybe 'cause, when seeking the elusive calmness I fill my chest with air, I see your eyes closed when you'd open your bellows so your bandoneon would calm down as well.
- Maybe 'cause in these painful days of being tango deprived I find comfort in your most famous quote "tango awaits you" and I know it's true just because you said it, and no one would dare challenge your wisdom.
- Maybe 'cause today, 46 years after you left us, I imagine you alive up in tango heaven, surrounded by music, good wine and some other excess of imperfect humanity, enjoying yourself with your friends, playing at a star made Marabu (****) where surely my old man and lady improvise a few ochos while aunty Melucha carries on singing "... don't you forget about my little Pedro child..." (******)
- Maybe 'cause we don't need to meet someone to feel they are family.
- Maybe 'cause I AM made in tangos...
... to me you'll always be my dear "uncle Pichucho", the only one capable of making my fiction become my reality.
Aníbal "Pichuco" Troilo 7/11/1914 - 5/18/1975 ____ (*) From the recited poem of "La Cumparsita" in Spanish "... porque me hice en tangos". (**) "Dormite, mi niño Pedro, que está por llegar envuelto de nube y cielo Papá Baltazar" (From the milonga Papá Baltazar).
(***) "La feliz" (the happy one) is the way Argentines refer to the beach town "Mar del Plata" where Troilo used to spend the summer with his family. (****) "Marabú" was the cabaret where Troilo played with his orchestra in the Golden Years of the 1940's (*****) "De mi niño, niño Pedro, no te vayas a olvidar" (From the milonga Papá Baltazar).