Biography

Carlos Di Sarli (1903–1960) earned the nickname El Señor del Tango (“The Lord of Tango”), a title that reflected not only his elegant musical style but also his reserved, dignified stage presence. Often spotted behind a pair of dark glasses, Di Sarli cut a distinctive figure: a refined pianist, a successful orchestra leader, and a composer whose work remains essential in the traditional tango canon.

Born on January 7, 1903, in Bahía Blanca, southern Argentina, Di Sarli was christened Cayetano Di Sarli. His father, Miguel, was an Italian immigrant and owner of a local gun shop. His mother, Serafina Russomano, came from a family of musicians (her father Tito had been a tenor). Music ran through the family, with one brother becoming a music teacher, one a singer, and Roque, the youngest, a pianist like Carlos himself.

A pivotal moment came when Carlos, at age 13, lost an eye in a firearms accident at his father’s store. From that point on, he always wore dark-tinted glasses… part necessity, part mystique. It was a traumatic injury, but it didn’t derail his musical path. 

Much to the dismay of his family and piano teacher, Di Sarli ran off with a zarzuela troupe to join the theatrical life on tour. In the years that followed, Di Sarli found work playing piano for silent films in La Pampa province before returning to Bahía Blanca. At just 16, he debuted as a band leader in a local café called Café Express. His group briefly toured the provinces, but in 1923, Carlos and Roque made the inevitable move to Buenos Aires.

Di Sarli worked with several orchestras, most notably playing for Osvaldo Fresedo, whose refined, urbane style left a permanent mark on Di Sarli’s musical vocabulary. In 1927 Carlos formed his own ensemble — a sextet that would, over time, lay the groundwork for his signature sound. He recorded extensively in the late 1920s and early ’30s, but after several interruptions and lineup changes, he temporarily stepped away from leading his own group.

In 1938 Di Sarli returned to Buenos Aires with renewed focus. He reorganized his orchestra and, in 1939, began recording again. He released one record in 1939: the song Corazón on the A-side and the instrumental piece Retirao on the B-side. 

Corazón - 1939

Tú, el cielo y tú – 1944

"Corazón" (1939) highlighted Di Sarli’s lyricism and understated elegance. We now jump five years ahead to a recording where feeling is more forceful. In "Tú, el cielo y tú", Di Sarli opens space for the singer and embraces a dramatic, confessional mood that pulls dancers into a quieter, more inward kind of embrace.

The piece was composed by Mario Canaro (of the famous Canaro family, a violinist, arranger and steady hand in the dance-orchestra world), with lyrics by Héctor Marcó.  Marcó was a prolific lyricist whose words often give tangos their dramatic, poetic shape. On the mic is Alberto Podestá (born Alejandro Washington Alé, 1924–2015), one of Di Sarli’s key vocalists in the early to mid-1940s, whose intimate, confessional delivery is what makes this recording connect so directly with our emotions.

Musically, the arrangement hits you with tragic grandeur. The band breathes, the voice confesses, and dancers fold into the music, walking that small journey of suffering and beauty that tango loves. Lyrically, it is simple but ruthless. In the verse the narrator remembers a lover who left him, wrapped in rich metaphors, and in the chorus he prays she might return, and if she is not coming back he begs her not to tell him. It is exactly the singer-led, emotionally intense kind of tango that made the 1940s feel so intimate and dramatic.

"Tú, el cielo y tú" from November 1944:

Milonguero viejo – 1955

“Milonguero viejo” was composed by Di Sarli as an homage to Fresedo and sometimes subtitled “Fresedo” in recognition of their connection. The tune first became known in Fresedo’s own 1928 sextet recording with Ernesto Famá. Di Sarli kept returning to the piece across his career; his orchestra recorded it multiple times (in 1940, 1944, again in 1951, and finally in 1955). Each version corresponds to a unique phase of Di Sarli's orchestra and listening to each gives insights into the progression of Di Sarli's style, the progression of recording technology, and the the evolution of tango music. 

For decades, the music industry was dominated by the two labels of Victor and Odeon. But in the 1950s, the new tape-to-vinyl technology brought about a new group of studio entrants, including the Music Hall label who signed Di Sarli’s orchestra. The improved technology helped deliver a noticeably cleaner, warmer recording quality… or in the label’s own words: fidelidad que iguala a la realidad — fidelity that equals reality.

The 1955 rendition reflects both Di Sarli’s mature sense of phrasing and the cleaner, warmer sound available in early 1950s studio technology; compared with the 1928 Fresedo vocal original it emphasizes orchestral balance and a nostalgic, danceable lyricism that pays tribute to Fresedo while sounding unmistakably Di Sarli.

"Milonguero viejo“ from May 1955:

The mid-to-late 1950s marked the end of the “Golden Age” of tango. Tango was losing ground to newer styles such as rock and roll, and many of the milongas were shut down following the exile of Perón in 1955. Yet at this time Carlos Di Sarli still managed to create gems for dancers.

“Bahía Blanca” is one such jewel: an instrumental he composed for his hometown on the southern coast of Buenos Aires province. Di Sarli first laid it down for RCA Victor in November 1957, but a year later he returned to the piece for Philips, using the label’s improved tape-to-vinyl technology to capture a warmer, more spacious sound. The 1958 Philips cut usually sits alongside the leaner (and often preferred) 1957 RCA version in most DJs’ libraries.

The Philips sessions marked the end of an era. After a 1951–54 stint at Music Hall, he returned to RCA in 1954, the label he had recorded with since 1939 and with which he also cut his 1955 “Milonguero viejo”, which we explored last week (for those of you interested in a Music Hall recording, look up his 1951 ‘Milonguero viejo’). In 1958 he moved to Philips and recorded his final fourteen sides. He assembled a refreshed line-up including violinist Elvino Vardaro, and singers Horacio Casares and Jorge Durán for these high-fidelity recordings.

The recordings reveal the orchestra’s mature control: every phrase breathes, the strings shimmer, and the trademark campanitas on the piano sparkle.

In March 1959, already ill with bladder cancer, Di Sarli gave his final performance at Club Podestá in Lanús and closed the night with “Bahía Blanca,” a farewell that ties the arc of his life back to the port city in the title. In a decade when rock and roll pulled attention elsewhere, this recording kept the flame for milongueros.

“Bahia Blanca“ is a love letter to a place and a time, delivered with the very poise that earned Di Sarli his nickname “El Señor del Tango.”

Di Sarli died in January 1960, less than a year after these sessions, yet the elegance he forged throughout his career still guides dancers everywhere. 

“Bahía Blanca” from November 1958: