is was a case the other way around to what it was customary. Throughout the twentieth century the Uruguayan boys that played tango or were movie or theater actors or carried out other activities like horse racing, such is the case of Irineo Leguisamo, used to cross the Río de la Plata and moved to Buenos Aires in order to have more job possibilities. But Carusito —who was born in the porteño neighborhood of Villa Crespo— moved to the other bank when he was only twenty and stayed in Montevideo for the rest of his life. But every now and then he returned for a short time because of family or business reasons or because there were few jobs in his city of choice.

In his career there was a performance that shall be remembered by the tango lovers and, especially, by the Julio Sosa’s fans. The latter singer, that was extraordinarily successful in Argentina, had appeared at a contest under the sobriquet of Alberto Ríos. Due to this competition he was hired by the Hugo Di Carlo orchestra and, also, by the officials of the Sondor label to record five numbers, the only professional recordings cut throughout his career in his country. On that occasion he was accompanied by the quartet led by Luis Caruso.

His uncle was José Servidio, the outstanding bandoneonist and composer, who introduced him to the instrument and later placed him in the ranks of the children orchestra he sponsored. Thereafter Carusito joined his uncle’s professional orchestra.

In 1936 he decided to travel to Uruguay. The following year he joined the Cuarteto Típico Pirincho fronted by Juan Esteban Martínez. The latter was known with the same sobriquet as Francisco Canaro, maybe because both were maragatos (name given to the ones born in San José, Uruguay). They backed up the young female singer Marujita Falero who, in 1938, was hired by Radio Carve where she appeared with the accompaniment of a trio that included Juan Cao (piano), Mario Orrico (violin) and Carusito (bandoneon).

He was a musician in growing development and was living a period of full activity. Before putting together his own orchestra he played in a trio modelled after his admired Ciriaco Ortiz with two guitarists: Alfonso Picera and Ramos. He had a tenure in the orchestra of the consecrated Carlos Warren. Furthermore, besides his work as musician, he worked as journalist writing notes in the magazine Cine-Radio de Actualidad.

In the mid- 40s he put together his own orchestra. It included Jaurés Lamarque Pons, a musician classically trained and composer, on piano, Fabregat and Boromat (violins), Orlando Ponzoni and Giordanelli —along with the leader— (bandoneons), Orosman Fernández (double bass) and the vocalist Walter Cavaradozzi.

He started on CX30 Radio Nacional, afterwards a tour of Brazil followed and, two years later, he returned for a short time to Buenos Aires to join the aggregation of his uncle to appear on LR3 Radio Belgrano. When he came back to Montevideo he formed a new group to accompany the vocalist Alberto Reynal.

From the late 1943 and, for several seasons, he played on the stage of the Café El Ateneo, appeared at the Cabaret Marabú (with the same name as the one on Maipú Street in Buenos Aires) and on the radio. Later the five recordings with Julio Sosa came.

On that occasion the orchestra was comprised by Rubén Pocho Pérez (piano), Roberto Smith (string bass), Mirabello Dondi (violin) and, of course, Carusito as leader and bandoneon player. The recordings were: “Una y mil noches”, “San Domingo” —candombe by José Monzeglio and Omar Scaglia—, “Sur”, “La última copa”, all in 1948 and “Mascarita” on January 31, 1949.

As well he accompanied the appearances of our fellow countrywoman Chola Luna. When Caruso needed to travel to our bank, the quartet continued its performances and he was replaced by Edgardo Pedroza or by Oldimar Cáceres. The recordings with Sosa were not the first ones by Caruso in Sondor. In 1945 he made his debut with the candombe “Cambio de mano”, that he had composed, with Carlos Barbé on vocals and on the other side of the disc: his tango “Sierra y Miguelete”, also known under another title: “Rey de triunfo” and which was recorded in 1949 by Juan D'Arienzo as an instrumental and entitled “As de bastos”.

In 1947 he recorded his piece: “No puede perder” and the milonga: “Los ejes de mi carreta” with Walter Escobar on vocals. With the same vocalist he recorded: “Candombero”, by Luis Carballo and “Con la otra”. The following year, the waltz: “Auroras del Sena”, by Blanca García and Luis Cirelli, and “Anoche [b]” (with the same name as the Argentine tango) by Güelfo Sánchez and Cirelli; also: “De pura cepa”, “Alguien [b]” (by Caruso and Francisco Rosselli), “Cachumbe” (candombe by Luis Pereyra), “Ella no está” (by Caruso), the instrumentals: “Felicia”, “El espiante”, “La cumparsita” and “La viruta”; and the candombes: “Pancha y Ramón” (by María Falero —his wife—) and “Estrellita de los negros” (by Elsa Pigrau and Enrique Soriano). These are only some of his recordings for Sondor. Thereafter he accompanied the singer Raúl Lavalle.

As author he filed in the record over 200 numbers, some of them were hits and, of course, known on both banks of the River Plate. For instante, let us mention: “Anselmo Acuña el resero”, “Aquel muchacho de la orquesta” (with Alejandro Blasco), “Bomboncito”, “Es inútil que la llores” (with Salvador Grupillo), “La fulana [b]” (milonga), “Lecherito del Abasto”, “Lilián”, “Martiniano Robles” (with Orlando Romanelli), “En Buenos Aires (Montevideo)” (with Alberto Raúl Goicoechea), “Para negros solamente” (milonga, with José Servidio), “Quedó en venir a las nueve” (with Juan Polito), “Se va una tarde más” (with Enrique Cantore), “Y siempre igual”; lastly, the one which Ricardo García Blaya and I like most is the excellent rendition by Alberto Echagüe with D'Arienzo of “Este carnaval”.

He was a competent lyricist and a good melodist. He died at an early age when he still had much to give us. We remember him with love and the respect that his important career deserves.