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Francisco Canaro, violinist, leader and composer (November 26, 1888 – December 14, 1964) Nickname: Pirincho.
Uruguayan from the city of San José de Mayo, his is a dense story, crowded with situations, full of anecdotes, some of which became mythical. A boy born in the deepest poverty, he had no studies, his only choice was work. When with his right instinct he found the path of music, he achieved what he aimed for: success and money. The selfishness and meanness he may have cherished like any other human being became of secondary importance. His labouriousness and his ideas were examples to be followed. He was the agglutinant of his colleagues, because since 1918 he fought for the composers'rights, not recognized at that time until it culminated with the birth of what is now SADAIC (Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música) (Argentine Society of Authors and Composers), founded in 1935 and whose building was erected on estate bought by Canaro.
His beginnings are muddled with those of tango history. So much so that a radio program of mid 50s had coined a phrase to refer to any extremely old event: «when Canaro already had his orchestra». His fortune gave birth to a common saying: «He's got more money than Canaro», in allusion to somebody's opulence. It is said that once when Canaro and Gardel met at the races, the latter asked him 500 pesos (an amount then enormous) to bet on a horse, but asking the former to forget about this debt: «I'm poor, and you've got all the money here.» Because compared with Canaro, even Gardel was poor.