Juancito Díaz, was the cousin of pianist Fulvio Salamanca, who played piano for Juan D’Arienzo. The video clip below shows Díaz playing piano on a TV show in 1950. He is playing a jazzed up version of Julio de Caro’s “El Monito” (English: The Monkey).
The song “El Monito” was originally named after a racehorse. Juan Carlos Marambio Catan created some strange lyrics for the music later. The lyrics transform the meaning of the title to Little Love Monkey! It sings of a couple meeting in a bulin, a cheap apartment used for partying and love affairs. The man in the lyrics calls his lover the monkey of my love. These lyrics and the musical composition were registered together with SADAIC on November 20th, 1939.
The earliest recording listed of “El Monito” came from 1925, eleven years before the formation of SADAIC. The label on the shellac shows the genre as a Tango Humorístico, suggesting this was considered a silly song, not a serious tango. There doesn’t seem to have been any recordings that include the lyrics. However, there were recordings by Julio de Caro in 1939 and again 1949 that include whistling and various grunts and vocalizations. The people making these noises are not credited, but were most likely done by the band members. There were also recordings of this song done by Pugliese, Troilo, Mariano Mores and others.
Juancito Díaz collaborated with Juan D’Arienzo for a couple of years. But he was mostly know for his solo piano playing. You can read an interview with Juancito Díaz over on the Todo Tango web site.
