Mario Alan Candamil (May 13, 1929–)

Born in Mexico, his family immigrated to Buenos Aires when he was three years old. I met Alito for the first time when I danced valses with him in Regin in November 1998. It was an “aha” moment for me.  I danced with a milonguero.

Alito organized dances over many decades in Palacio Rivadavia, Mariano Acosto, Club Almagro, Tourbillon, Club Savoy, Salon Agusteo, and Confiteria Piccadilly, among others. In September 2001, he and Miguel Angel Balbi were partners in a milonga known as “Buenos Aires Tango (Milonguero)” held in Mundo Latino on Esmeralda. They were forced to close it after only three months when the city was in turmoil with President de la Rua in office. Alito’s last milonga was in Plaza Bohemia in 2004. He set the admission at one peso, hoping to entice dancers to attend. Sadly, it never came to pass, and he lost money. One evening during his milonga, I was sitting with Alito. The deejay played a tanda of Alfredo De Angelis. Alito turned and said to me, “in my time, if they played De Angelis in a milonga, the disk jockey would have been taken to the street and shot. De Angelis was the music of the carousel, not the milonga.”

Last night Alito quietly celebrated his birthday at midnight in Club Gricel. We danced a tanda of Tanturi/Castillo—the only tanda he danced all night. Today, Alito and Osvaldo Centeno came to my apartment for lunch and conversation. Alito has a daughter (41) and a grandson (14) who live in Villa Urquiza. As Alito left my apartment a couple hours ago, he said he was going home to shower, change, and go to the milonga in Plaza Bohemia.  Alito is married to the milonga.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: milongueros