Armando Pontier

Historical background

Born Armando Francisco Punturero on 29 August 1917 in Zárate, Armando Pontier studied solfège, harmony and composition at Juan Elhert's academy alongside future colleagues Enrique Francini and Héctor Stamponi; it was their teacher who first brought them to Buenos Aires to play on the radio. Working under Miguel Caló brought him, in his biographer's words, "recognition and the start of a brilliant career," before he co-founded the Orquesta Francini-Pontier with Francini and, after 1955, led his own band under his own name, with singers Julio Sosa and Roberto Florio, later Oscar Ferrari, Héctor Darío (1960) and Roberto Rufino (1961). He spent over a decade at Radio Belgrano and became the star turn of the Centro Asturiano's carnival dances in the late 1950s; in 1963 he reunited with Caló, Francini, Domingo Federico, Alberto Podestá and Raúl Berón in the short-lived Orquesta de las Estrellas.

A prolific composer, Pontier wrote sung tangos that became genre standards, among them "Trenzas," "Claveles blancos" and "Milongueando en el cuarenta," alongside instrumentals such as "A los amigos," singled out by his biographer as possibly his finest work. He toured Japan twice, in 1966 with Héctor Darío and again in 1973 with Francini and Néstor Marconi, and entrusted fourteen lyrics to Uruguayan poet Federico Silva, recorded by Roberto Goyeneche with Aníbal Troilo's orchestra for an RCA Victor album. His later years included leading a sextet at the Marabú cabaret with Oscar Ferrari and Carlos Casado, and welcoming Uruguayan singer Gustavo Nocetti in 1982. Armando Pontier took his own life on 25 December 1983, in his Belgrano apartment, deep in depression.

Source: Ricardo García Blaya, "Armando Pontier," Todotango.com, https://www.todotango.com/creadores/biografia/700/Armando-Pontier/.