CachiloCachilo, the poet of the walls

(por versión en Castellano, cliquee aquí)

Cachilo belonged to the Olympus of Rosarinean mythology even before dying on a sidewalk, on October 4th, 1991. A urban hobo, poet of the walls, local precursor of the graffiti, numerous cultural exponents of Rosario have looked after him, have paid homage to him, have loved him and continue to love him. Musicians and poets have sung of him, journalists wrote on him, photographers and plastic artists have portrayed him. Cachilo was on the cover page of Risario magazine, that had previously published an interview with him -the journalistic discovery of Cachilo, in 1982- and that later incorporated him as "Spiritual Guide". A group of friends published a compilation of his mural writings, which was presented in the Municipal School of Fine Arts in September of 1991, fifteen days before Cachilo' s death. Outstanding space is dedicated to him by "El libro de los graffitis" (The Graffitis Book), published by Editorial El Quirquincho of Buenos Aires. Local newspapers also concerned themselves with Cachilo and they also dedicated him a space on their respective covers to say a moving goodbye to him when he died.
There even exists a Super 8 film footage shot by Alejandro Lamas and a more recent video recording made by José Luis Seguí, in which Cachilo is seen and heard while he makes his work on the walls of the city. In the interview in Risario - carried out by Manolo Rivadera - Cachilo declares to having been born on May, 1st, 1927. Documents say that he in fact was born one day before, on April 30th, 1927. Anyway, the man who was born on those dates was not in fact Cachilo, but the one that forty years later would begin the transformation from which Cachilo would emerge. His birth name was Higinio Alberto Maltaneres, but this is not an important subject. He had been an employee at the Post, as is revealed by Cachilo himself in several of his writings. He had also had a stationery business and prospered with the sale of decalcomanias and pennants.
The obvious question about what occurred to him cannot be answered in a simple way. Nervertheless, what is more important in Cachilo are not the answers but the questions...

MP

 

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