e was born in Buenos Aires downtown, on Viamonte and Reconquista. His parents were named Vicente and Francisca Papalía. He was a musician who belonged to the generation of the greats of the genre: Aníbal Troilo, Alfredo Gobbi, Joaquín Mora, Osvaldo Pugliese and Ángel D'Agostino, just to name a few.

He was a player with deep sensitiveness, an easy listening style with enough stamina to fill the dancers with enthusiasm.

His debut was with a juvenile orchestra playing along with Orlando Goñi in 1927 at the Metropolitan tearoom.

In 1929, he was summoned by Osvaldo Fresedo, later he joined the Anselmo Aieta’s outfit and, finally, he switched to the one led by the violinist Eugenio Nobile to appear at the Marzotto tearoom on Corrientes Street.

Cayetano Puglisi hired him as lead bandoneon of his orchestra in 1934 for his appearances on Radio Fénix. Thereafter he shortly passed through the ranks of the D’Agostino’s aggregation to finally switch to the one led by Joaquín Mora to replace Ángel Domínguez.

In the late thirties he fronted an orchestra that played an international repertory. In 1937, as lead bandoneon, he joined the brand new orchestra put together by his friend Osvaldo Pugliese to appear at the Café Germinal.

The following year he played in the orchestra led by the team Lucio Demare-Elvino Vardaro to appear on Radio Belgrano. Soon thereafter Vardaro split and Lucio remained as leader.

In 1941, he switched to the Juan Canaro Orchestra with which he made a long tour abroad. On his comeback, in the late 1942, he decide to form his own orchestra and made his debut on Radio Mitre with the vocalist Héctor De La Fuente.

Some years later he teamed up with Emilio Orlando, with Carlos Acuña on vocals, for an important radio show on Radio El Mundo.

In 1948, the Uruguayan singer Enrique Campos split with the Francisco Rotundo Orchestra and joined Calabró. So the Campos-Calabró team was born. For the Sondor label they recorded the tango “El pecoso” and the milonga “Cargamento”. The latter ones, I think, are numbers that cannot be missed in a record collection by tango lovers, they are true gems.

Heading his aggregation in 1952 he appeared on Radio Libertad with José Torres and Jorge Ledesma on vocals. In 1954, he returned to El Mundo radio station with the vocalists José Torres and Raimundo De La Peña and, in 1958 he switched to Radio Belgrano, with José Torres and Alberto Aguirre. The latter was later replaced by Oscar Corvalán.

His latter appearances were with a trio that completed Arturo Gallucci on double bass and Lorenzo Ranieri on guitar. They played for many years at the shows of the restaurant El Mesón Español on Caseros Avenue, on the south side of the city of Buenos Aires.

As composer his outstanding tangos are “Jazmín”, “Decime”, “Corrientes y Maipú”, “Vos hacés lo que querés”, “Tiene razón amigazo” and “En un gris amanecer”.