Alfredo Marcucci

Bandoneon player, performer, composer and ambassador of Argentine tango, born September 14, 1929 in a village named Ensanada, Argentina. Growing up in Buenos Aires, young Alfredo was taught the virtues of the bandoneon by his uncle, the well-known orchestra leader Carlos Marcucci. Prompted by the death of his father, at the age of 15 he began playing and touring professionally, and at the age of 18 he joined the orchestra of his other mentor, Julio De Caro. Several other orchestras later (Raúl Camplún, Osvaldo Donatto, Enrique Pranccini, Juan Canaro), he lived the dream of recording with that of the famous Carlos Di Sarli in 1956. Three years later it was dissolved due to ill health, and Alfredo ended up playing bass for a jazz ensemble during a tour of the Middle East. Crossing paths with Luis Alberto Del Parana's famous group in Istanbul in 1961, he recorded and toured with the Paraguayos for many years until, in 1976, he decided he'd had enough, hung up his bandoneon and settled in Belgium to devote time to his family and the blue-collar life of a factory worker making plastic lamps. A few years later, Alfredo was coaxed back into the game by local fans and compatriots. He soon found himself opening a music school, teaching tango at the Academy of Ixelles, performing on the European stage with numerous ensembles (including a few stints with Reynaldo Meza Y Los Paraguayos), and recording with Belgian string quartet Ensemble Piacevole. In 2004 he was invited to Turin to train and direct the first Argentine tango orchestra in Italy -- which was named in his honour. Alfredo Marcucci passed away on June 12, 2010 in Landen, Belgium at the age of 81.