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National Geographic

Meet the instrument tuner keeping the traditions of tango music alive

The bandoneon, a type of concertina, is best known as the classic instrument in the tango orchestras of Argentina and Uruguay, but its roots are in Europe. Invented in the 1820s by a German luthier named Heinrich Band, it was made to be played in church processionals, almost like a handheld organ. When German and Italian immigrants brought the instrument to working-class port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century, it became a centerpiece of the passionate ballroom dance that came to be known as the tango. Its melodies ramble and its sound is sad and sweet. Some of the most prominent tango orchestra leaders were bandoneon players, including Astor Piazzolla, Aníbal Troilo, and Rodolfo Mederos—and in the golden age of tango in the 1940s their records catapulted the instrument to international fame. But the secret behind most of these artists was that their instruments were all tuned for decades by the same two luthiers: Italian-born Ricardo Romualdi and Fabio Fabiani, known together as 'Los Tanos' (slang for 'The Italians'). Romualdi was Guttlein's childhood neighbor. When Guttlein was growing up, he observed the luthier with curiosity; in his twenties, Romualdi brought him into Los Tanos' workshop for the first time. 'It's a job you only learn by watching and listening,' Guttlein said. 'They were so generous with me.' At first, he fetched the elder luthiers' coffee, and swept the floors, and did just about every kind of job besides tuning. But he was good with his hands, having learned metalworking and carpentry from a young age, and he played the piano accordion. (Surprisingly, he has never learned the bandoneon, only built and repaired them). After only a few months in the workshop, he knew he'd found his calling. He began traveling with his then-girlfriend—now wife—to tiny towns across Argentina, looking to buy old bandoneons long out of use. With help from Los Tanos, he would practice refining their sound and ultimately resell them to professional players, building his reputation. 'It was a big bet,' he said. 'This is a very small world, and if you screw up, people find out very quickly.' Once they saw he was up to the task, Romualdi and Fabiani began to trust Guttlein with some of their own clients. He worked with them from the late 1990s up until 2005, when the old men retired from their workshop space and continued to tune sparingly from home. 'Ricardo worked until his very last day,' Guttlein said. 'He loved what he did.'