Nardo Zalko

Nardo Zalko (October 1, 1941 – June 2, 2011) was an Argentine-French journalist, author, researcher, and historian of tango.

Early life

Zalko was born in October 1941 to a Lithuanian couple, Frida and Abrasha Zalko, who migrated to Argentina. He was raised in the porteño neighbourhood of San Cristobal, Buenos Aires. From the age of 19 wrote for the Uruguayan weekly newspaper, Marcha, published in Montevideo, and reported on events for them such as the Eichmann trial held in Jerusalem in 1961.

Career

Zalko moved to Paris with his wife and three-year-old son in 1970. In 1979, he became a journalist for Agence France-Presse (AFP), where he eventually became the shift manager of the South America department, Desk AmSud. He retired from the AFP as the head of AmSud in 2006.

In 1996, Zalko became editor-in-chief of Tango, Bulletin de l'Académie du Tango de France, a publication that printed rare documents, phonograph records, sheet music, books, pictures, and photographs about tango. Through this work, Zalko interviewed many musicians, singers, and dancers, including Astor Piazzolla and Susana Rinaldi. This collection is now housed in the Centre National de la Danse (CND) in Paris.

In 1998, Zalko published his first book about tango, Paris – Buenos Aires, Un Siècle de Tango (published by ), in which he documented the music, dance, lyrics, and culture of tango, and the relationship it created between the cities of Paris and Buenos Aires. In the book, Zalko argues that tango had to become popular in Paris to eventually experience a revival in its birthplace of Buenos Aires. The book contains 66 illustrations, including rare ones from Zalko's personal collection among them tango poetry, sheet music, postcards, drawings, satirical cartoons and photographs, to complement the text. The book was chosen by the French Ministry of National Education as a subject for the baccalauréat (the general matriculation exams) in 2015. His next book, Le Tango, Passion du Corps et de l’Esprit, was published by Milan Presse in 2001.

According to historian Julio Nudler, Zalko was the first author to conduct a serious investigation on the development of the tango in Paris. Zalko is considered to be an expert in his field by tango researchers; his work, in particular, the book Paris-Buenos Aires: Un Siècle de Tango/ Paris-Buenos Aires: Un Siglo de Tango, has been cited in various books, articles, and theses.

In Paris, in conjunction with the Pompidou Center, Zalko led a series of tours of places having a connection to tango. In 2005, he was appointed Parisian ambassador of .

Zalko died in Paris in 2011 and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery. In attendance at the funeral were Zalko's family – widow: Dr. Hagar Shemi Zalko, Ph.D. in art history; son: Dr. Daniel Zalko, doctor of toxicology, research director at (INRAE); daughter: Aline Zalko, artist, illustrator and graduate of L'École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) school of visual arts. He was honoured by a tribute at the Argentine Embassy in Paris several months after his death.

In 2017 the personal archives of Nardo Zalko (books, documents, musical scores, letters, various iconographic sources, tango records, etc.) was placed in the CND (Centre national de la danse), the National Dance Center in France.

Publications

Books Crepusculo en La Habana [Twilight in Havana], Buenos Aires: Catalogos, 1993. Paris – Buenos Aires, Un Siècle de Tango [Paris – Buenos Aires, One Hundred Years of Tango; French language edition], Paris: Du Félin, 1998. Reprinted in 2004. Reprinted in paperback in 2016. Le Tango, Passion du Corps et de l’Esprit [Tango, Passion of the Body and the Spirit], Oban, France: Milan Presse, 2001. Paris – Buenos Aires, Un Siglo de Tango [Paris – Buenos Aires, One Hundred Years of Tango; Spanish language edition], Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2001.

Group publications

Danses Latines [Latin Dances], Paris: Autrement, 2001 Tango y Lunfardo [Tango and Lunfardo], Buenos Aires: Dunke, 2002,

CDs

Paris – Buenos Aires, collection of tangos selected by Nardo Zalko. Paris: Du Félin, 1998, Ref. 935770–9.

Films about Zalko

Paris le Tango Buenos Aires, director: Odile Fillion, 2007 Nardo Zalko. Paris – Buenos Aires. Un Siècle de Tango, director: Claude Namer and Manu Petit, 2010

Journalism

Correspondent in Paris for Marcha, Montevideo – 1970–1974 Reporter for Clarin, Buenos Aires; Mondo Nuevo, Caracas; La Vanguardia, Medellin; Amitiés France-Israel, Paris – 1974–1979 Reporter for El Universal and El Nacional, Mexico; El Herald, Miami; El Carabobeño, Valencia; El Tiempo, Bogota – 1980–1991 Editor-in-chief of the periodical Tango, Bulletin de l'Académie du Tango de France, Paris – 1996