He has been hailed as ‘the one who saved the tango,’ and it seems that the Argentine identity should be grateful to a Lucanian who, with his talent, has allowed a pillar of the culture of the great South American country to revive up to the present day.
Parliamo Josè Libertella, nato il 9 luglio 1933 a Calvera, nel cuore dell’Appennino lucano, ed emigrato a meno di un anno a Buenos Aires in Argentina, cresciuto nel “barrio” di Villa Lugano e ben presto avviatosi a suonare il bandoneón.
A precocious talent led him, already as a teenager in the late ’40s, to play in prestigious tango orchestras and to found the Sexteto Mayor in 1973.
Considered one of the ferrymen of the musical genre from the period of decline in the 1960s to the revival of the 1980s. He died in Paris at the age of 71 on December 8th, 2004.
The figure and the ‘myth’ of José Libertella are now being rediscovered and celebrated by his community of origin in Basilicata. In anticipation of the Year of Roots Tourism, the community of the small Lucanian town is organizing events and projects to promote tourism of return.
