Juan Maglio “Pacho” was essential to the acceptance of the bandoneon as a musical instrument of Tango.
Born in 1881, he started to learn to play bandoneon by watching his father play it every day after work.
He would pay attention to the finger positions and then practice them secretly on his home’s roof.
He went to school until the age of 12, when he started to work, first in a mechanic workshop, then as a laborer in different activities, and then in a brickyard.
At the age of 18, he decided to fully head into his vocation: music.
During the years of hard work, he kept practicing, in order to stay in shape for when the opportunity knocks.
He improved notoriously, and from his bandoneon of 35 buttons, moved successively to instruments of 45, 52, 65, 71, and at last, a customized bandoneon of 75 buttons.