The passing away of Ciro Pérez, last May 5, 2024 in Corsica, at the age of 79, is one of those events in which our media shows how little appreciation there is for our music. No media in Argentina or Uruguay seems to have covered the news of the death of one of the most important guitarists in the history of music in the Río de la Plata.
Ciro Pérez accompanied Zitarrosa in the first decade of his career, before he had to go into exile, recording on his first fourteen albums, starting with the well-remembered “Canta Zitarrosa”. By the time the two artists met, Ciro was one of the most respected guitarists of his environment, having accompanied all the most important singers of his time.
Later, Ciro himself crossed the Rio de la Plata and settled in Buenos Aires. There he was Roberto Grela‘s sideman, with whom he accompanied all the most important singers in activity of that time, performing at the Viejo Almacén run by Edmundo Rivero. Among several names, we can mention Rivero himself and Rubén Juárez, in his only record of folk music, and especially, two instrumental records: “De Grela a Gardel” and “Las nuevas creaciones de Roberto Grela”, the only duo record of Grela’s career, showing the respect he had for Ciro.
In 1982 he emigrated to France, and developed a vast activity as a regular musician of the legendary café “Les trottoirs de Buenos Aires”. Together with Enrique Lagarde (double bass) and Enrique Pascual (piano) he formed the “Trío Río de la Plata”, with whom he also recorded an album. Later he also formed a duo with guitarist Vidal Rojas, with whom he recorded his well-remembered album ” Homage to Grela”, which was never released in Argentina or Uruguay, but circulated hand in hand among tango guitarists all over the world; also a second album, less known, “Revisitango”.
Also in Europe, he recorded a magnificent duo album with the bandoneonist Osvaldo “Marinero” Montes, long before the latter began his well-remembered duo with Aníbal Arias. There he shines in all the aspects that were his trademark: the endless search for the perfect chord, the quality and power of his sound, the right accompaniment, the virtuosity in the use of the plectrum, the tango “marcato” of a superior neatness and strength.
In his last years he settled in Corsica, where he died, although he would spend a good part of the year in Uruguay.
I would have loved to have been able to provide more biographical data than what my memory retains; data collected orally and in the few interviews that the teacher gave (if this note reaches those who have known him better and can provide more data, they can leave them in the comments section). So I would like to close this brief text with a personal memory:
I had the immense luck to meet Ciro Pérez in person during the recording of the album “Jacinto Chiclana”, which is, as far as I know, his last recording, in which he plays with Roger Helou and Orlando Dibelo, plus the double bass of Federico Abraham, in instrumental pieces and accompanying the singer Omar Fernández.
When I found out that Ciro Pérez’s stay in Switzerland would match the dates of my European tour, I wrote to Roger Helou to ask him if they would do a live concert, or if, otherwise, I could attend the recording to hear and see Ciro, who was a kind of legend in my eyes (and I know in the eyes of many guitarists from Buenos Aires) of whom I did not know his face or his voice (something certainly uncommon in this era of hyper-communication) despite admiring him so much.
Not only did Roger allow me to witness the recording, but he also invited me to meet the whole gang, who were staying at his house in Fribourg. As if I lacked a stroke of luck, a concert I had scheduled in Southern Germany (relatively close to that city) was unexpectedly cancelled. So, after a trip of about eight hours on the only bus I could find between Karlsruhe and Fribourg, I suddenly found myself drinking mate with Ciro, an experience that for me was comparable to meeting a minotaur. After a nice chat, propitiated by Ciro’s very friendly and easy-going personality, he asked me to take out my guitar, and after I played for a while he brought his. I don’t remember if it was Orlando Dibelo or Camille Burgy, the owner of the house, who took this video of a moment that I will hardly forget as long as I live.
I remember Ciro telling me, generously and kindly, “it seems like we have been playing together all our lives”. Roger, very wise, added: “you are playing with him for the first time, Ciro, but he has been playing with you for much longer”. The musical encounter was so nice that, the next day (when the second day of recording had finished), Roger encouraged us to record something together with Ciro. We did two completely improvised takes of two songs: “Romance de Barrio”, by Troilo, (the same one we played in this video), and “Te vas, Milonga”, by Abel Fleury, which to my surprise and pride (and above all, eternal gratitude), Roger decided to include in the album.
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