Ernesto Rondó

Real name: Pieroni, Ernesto Víctor
Singer and composer
(1 November 1927 - 19 October 1992)
Place of birth:
Rafaela (Santa Fe) Argentina
Néstor Pinsón

n two occasions I received his letters from Paris. They were quite curious because the envelope was covered on both sides with short printed phrases which highlighted his connection with tango and tango itself. Innocent phrases like «El cantor que triunfó en París», etc. A notable self-advertisement. The contents were an excuse, like sending a greeting to someone he did not know.

He was a restless boy. Son of a bandoneon player well-known in his neighborhood, he was soon caught by music. Soon after he was 20 he traveled to Buenos Aires and a friend musician helped him to appear at the Café Nacional. He was acquainted with people of the milieu and soon thereafter he joined the group led by Cristóbal Herreros. Later his singing was aired on a couple of radio stations and made several tours of the interior of the country.

Pleasant, and a correct singer who dared to face everything at hand in show business, he joined several theater casts until an offer brought a definitive direction to his life. Juan Bautista Deambroggio, aka Bachicha, proposed him to travel to Paris. But tango was no longer the boom as when it was discovered before World War I. It was 1955 and the world was on a new stage.

For one year the group put together and the knowledge that Bachicha had of that environment kept the balance. But Rondó preferred to go on his own. After that, his journey seemed to be never ending. He traveled throughout Europe and North America where through connections he managed to appear in several movies in which the main actors were true movie stars.

He was based in France and made tours of nearly all the countries of Europe. From time to time he returned for a short stay in Buenos Aires. On one of those stays he was invited by Francisco Canaro to appear in the performances at the Teatro Astral. On that occasion, on October 2, 1961, with Francisco Canaro he recorded two tangos for the Odeon label, disc 52739, faces 26991/92. They are: “Quiero verte una vez más” and “Tiempos viejos”.

In Europe he made over a hundred recordings for different labels, mostly French ones and one Italian. He received several awards and, possibly, the most important was the one by the French Academy of Arts, Sciences and Letters, in 1961, for his career.

Among his pieces as author and composer, we can mention: “Querida ciudad”, “Bodas de plata”; in collaboration with other musicians: “Coupole” with Julio Falcón, “Capital del tango” with Héctor Grané, “Corazón latino”, “Yo te canto Buenos Aires”, “Mandinga la suerte” in collaboration with Roberto Caldarella, “Gaucho en París” with Líber Locascio, “Granero” with Aldo Maietti, “Tu voz querida” with Julio De Caro, “Designio de Dios” with Enrique Lomuto, “Libertad yo te canto”, “Escuchame Brando” withn Rodolfo Montironi.

He is quite a character that deserves to be highlighted in the history of our music.