Roberto Firpo
MusicianName
Roberto Firpo
About
Roberto Firpo was an Argentine pianist and composer and one of the earliest innovators in tango music. Firpo performed in duos and trios before forming in 1913 one of the first "orquestas típicas," the basic lineup of piano, bandoneón, bass, and violins that would characterize the tango band. His career followed the upward mobility of the tango genre itself. After a humble beginning in the nightclubs of La Boca, the working-class, Genoese, port-side neighborhood of Buenos Aires, by the 1910s, his groups were headlining in the fancy cabarets of up-scale Palermo. Firpo, whose rhythmic style was characterized as "canyengue" or rootsy, played a central role in integrating the piano into tango music. His early recordings for Odeon were among the first to resolve the technical challenge of recording a full band with a piano. Firpo helped invent the Old Guard style against which New Guard composers like Julio De Caro defined themselves.
Role(s)
Musician
Band leader
Composer
Birth date
May 10, 1884
Death date
June 14, 1969
Genre
Roberto Firpo was an Argentine pianist and composer and one of the earliest innovators in tango music. Firpo performed in duos and trios before forming in 1913 one of the first "orquestas típicas," the basic lineup of piano, bandoneón, bass, and violins that would characterize the tango band. His career followed the upward mobility of the tango genre itself. After a humble beginning in the nightclubs of La Boca, the working-class, Genoese, port-side neighborhood of Buenos Aires, by the 1910s, his groups were headlining in the fancy cabarets of up-scale Palermo. Firpo, whose rhythmic style was characterized as "canyengue" or rootsy, played a central role in integrating the piano into tango music. His early recordings for Odeon were among the first to resolve the technical challenge of recording a full band with a piano. Firpo helped invent the Old Guard style against which New Guard composers like Julio De Caro defined themselves.