Hugo Diaz

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Hugo Diaz was born on August 10, 1927 in Santiago de Estero, Argentina. At the age of five he began to play the harmonica, and less than two years later he was already performing regularly for a local radio. All his life, in spite of a highly successful career, the ex-child prodigy remained loyal to the companion of his youth like the Abalos brothers and the great percussionist Domingo Cura with whom Diaz recorded on many occasions. His debut in Buenos Aires around 1944 was of course spectacular and resulted in a whole series of record contracts with Odeon, TK, Jockey and later, RCA. But we should continuously bear in mind the deep rural roots of Hugo Diaz. If he made his name as a first class tanguero, yet the genius of Diaz was expressed above all in the provincial folkloric music he had grown up with: chacareras, zambas and milongas camperas. Nevertheless, such brilliant musician could never really be confined to a single style or type of music. In 1953 during an European tour, Hugo Diaz had the opportunity to meet with two admired musicians, Larry Adler and Toots Thielemans. The admiration was mutual since Toots Thielemans never failed to pay homage to the artistry of Hugo Diaz. On his return home, where the nuevo tango was revolutionizing the music scene of Buenos Aires, his situation as an artist devoted to popular music, he recorded among others tangos created by Carlos Gardel,appears to be more difficult. Diaz was to record the most important part of his musical legacy during the 1970. The sound of his harmonica was captured in the theme "Milonga Triste" included in the film "The Tango Lesson", directed by Sally Potter, and more recently as a background music in the 2007 Foreign Film Oscar winner "The Counterfeiters",in which many tangos recorded by Diaz contribute to create the sad atmosphere of the film .