Eduardo Falú, an interview

Today I present to you the fourth edition of encounters with the greats of Argentine Folklore. More information about them and the transcript of the interviews can be found on our site www.tangodiario.com.

More than 20 years ago, I had the great honor of chatting with the wonderful guitarist and composer Eduardo Falù at his home.

Eduardo Falú was born on July 7, 1923 in El Galpón, province of Salta. His parents had emigrated from Syria and ran a Ramos Generales business.

At the age of 11, Eduardo Falu began to play the guitar in a self-taught way. From 1937 he studied in Salta and wrote his first songs.

In 1945, he moved to Buenos Aires and began performing on the El Mundo radio station. With the outstanding poet Jaime Dávalos, he wrote wonderful songs such as “Zamba de la Candelaria”, which immediately became a success throughout Argentina and beyond the country’s borders.

Eduardo Falú also composed music for lyrics by other great Argentine poets such as Manuel Castilla, Ernesto Sabato and Jorge Luis Borges. From the 70’s until 1998 Eduardo Falú toured all over the world.

In our conversation, Eduardo Falú told me why Argentina has such a wealth of folk rhythms. It has to do with the different landscapes of the enormous country and with the influences of the origin and the various languages of all the immigrants who arrived in Argentina.

In northwestern Argentina, Spanish influences merged with Inca culture. This gave rise to Zamba, Baguala, Carnavalito, Bailecito and Chacarera, among others.

The landscape of Salta inspires him for his compositions, Eduardo Falú told me. He takes it inside, although he lives in Buenos Aires since his youth.

Listen for yourselves to everything this great teacher who passed away in August 2013 at the age of 90 told me.