Ricardo González

Real name: González Alfiletegaray, Ricardo
Nicknames: Muchila o Mochila
Bandoneonist and composer
(20 November 1885 - 30 September 1962)
Place of birth:
Buenos Aires Argentina
Oscar Zucchi

his musician, born in the porteño neighborhood of San Cristóbal, started as a guitarist. It was him who taught Eduardo Arolas to play that instrument. He was neighbor and friend of the Canaros’ and the Grecos’. It was precisely Vicente Greco who encouraged him to learn playing bandoneon.

It was known that two years before the Centennial he appeared at a café on the corner of Pasco and Constitución in a duo with the guitarist (the one-eyed) Félix Camerano, aka El Tuerto.

In 1910 we can highlight his appearance at the San Martín town at a venue called La Milonga de Don Juan y Doña Virginia, a place where Augusto Berto played in his beginnings. There he replaced Vicente Greco. Also that year he played at the Argentino of La Boca, accompanied by the black pianist Harold Phillips and the violinist Eduardo Monelos.

In 1911 he was member of a trio with Prudencio Aragón on piano and his brother Pedro on violin that appeared at another café of La Boca. By that time he composed “El fulero”, his first tango.

The following year he toured some cities near Buenos Aires. It is worthwhile to stand out his appearance in Ayacucho, where he composed his most well-known tango: “La rosarina”.

According to the journalist Julián Porteño, the girl who inspired it was named Zulema Díaz and was sister of one of the female dancers of the show who used to write letters frequently to the former that was based in Rosario. One day she went to visit her thinking that she worked as a housekeeper in a ranch named La Alegría. But the coachman drove her to a dancehall with that name. When Mochila saw her he was struck by her beauty and hence he chose that title for his tango. But as she also danced well, she was hired and soon became a member of the chorus line.

Time later, in 1925, together with Carlos Espósito, Tano Genaro’s brother, he sailed on the Cap Polonio towards Europe. Firstly Montmartre, to appear at the cabaret Perroquet where a little time before the now late Arolas had played. There he came to know the last lover of the great composer, a dancer named Bernardette. After a few months he returned to Argentina but almost immediately Francisco Canaro summoned him to come back to Paris.

As a sideman he played in the city of Deauville and at the cabarets Les Ambassadeurs and Florida. In 1926 the Canaro’s aggregation was lined up by Miguel Orlando, Pedro Polito and Mochila (bandoneons); Canaro himself, Domingo Demare —Lucio’s and Lucas’s father—, plus two French musicians on violins and Lucio Demare (piano).

Some years later Ricardo González returned definitively to his homeland and, for reasons we do not know, he decided to quit show business. It was a voluntary retirement.

Regarding him as composer we can mention several numbers. The first one of his harvest and one of the most acclaimed: “El fulero”, dedicated to Francisco Canaro. It was recorded by the Quinteto Criollo Augusto led by Augusto Berto in 1913, and about the same time by the Quinteto Criollo El Alemán, led by Arturo Bernstein. Both for the Atlanta label.

Other numbers: “Acuérdese usted de mí”, “Don Benjamín”, “Dora” (recorded by Canaro in 1924), “El selecto” (by the Orquesta Típica Select in 1920), “Juanita”, “La cascada” (by Juan Maglio in 1916), “La mimosa [b]” (by the Orquesta Select, 1920), “Punto alto”, “Salazar”, “Se acabó la yeta”, recorded by Osvaldo Fresedo (1928) and by Pedro Maffia (1929/30), the waltz “Hasta después de muerta”, recorded by Canaro for the ERA label between 1916 and 1917.

Lastly, his tango “La rosarina” deserves a special paragraph because it was the one which stood out most. It was committed to disc by the Félix Camerano Orchestra (1915), the Orquesta Típica Victor (1930); Alberto Diana Lavalle as guitar solo (Odeon disc 1050); Roberto Firpo with his quartet on three occasions (1936, 1944 and 1949); the Juan D'Arienzo’s orchestra (1937) and the Quinteto Pirincho led by Francisco Canaro (1944).

Excepted from the book: El tango, el bandoneón y sus intérpretes. Volume I.