Santiago Alvarez interview
58 minutes Posted Nov 22, 2025 at 7:00 am.
Santiago is from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Is now a chromatic harmonica player, but started out playing diatonic age 16
Only performs on the chromatic harmonica, but still plays the diatonic and teaches it
Blues scene is strong in Buenos Aires
Howard Levy was an early inspiration and Santiago spent some time learning overblows on the diatonic, until he discovered the chromatic
Starting to learn overblows pushed Santiago into learning some jazz
Became interested in playing different forms of folk music
The Argentine chromatic player, Hugo Diaz, was a big influence on harmonica in Argentina
In Argentina much of the music available is from other countries, so Santiago had to hunt it out
Hugo Diaz was from the north of Argentina, playing the folk music from the region there and was mainly active between 1940-1970
Santiago has written a thesis on Argentinean chromatic harmonica music
Hugo Diaz was an important figure in Argentine music as an instrumentalist, not only a harmonica player
Santiago recently discovered more on how the harmonica came to Argentina in the 1930s from Hohner during his visit to the Trossingen festival in 2025
The bandoneon is another German instrument exported to Argentina, which is central to the sound of Argentinian tango, and is a free reed instrument, like the harmonica
Hoping to turn his thesis into a book and is currently translating the thesis into English so people will be able to read it online
Spent a year studying in New York before taking lessons with the great Argentine chromatic player Franco Luciano
Franco Luciano was also the director and contributed to the thesis Santiago has written on Argentinian chromatic harmonica
Considered becoming a tango dancer rather than a musician at one point
Learnt a lot from dancing the tango in how to perform, as well as helping to play the music too
Previously interviewed Joe Powers, who also specialises in playing tango music on the chromatic
Tango sounds very effective on the chromatic and fits very nicely on the instrument
Finland has it’s own brand of tango
Similarities with the bandoneon include the use of octaves and the rhythmical approach
Being a professional musician in Argentina presents some challenges but his passion for the music keeps him going
Harmonica players are finding spaces to occupy in the music and make the harmonica a recognised professional instrument
How the chromatic harmonica can capture the passion and emotion of tango music
First act was in the Tanino Duo, with guitarist Nicolás Pérez in 2010
Guitar is used in small ensembles in tango music
Other eminent guitarists Santiago has recorded with
2019 Domingo album is first solo album
Playing unison notes with the guitar and double stops and chords on the Domingo album
Change of embouchre is a unique aspect of tango music, for example to emphasis the rhythm with tongue slaps
Santiago mainly uses puckering and octaves, but other Argentinian players do it differently
Santiago learned the rhymical aspects of tango playing from Hugo Diaz, who is unlikely to have picked that up from Chicago style diatonic rhythmical playing techniques
Appeared at Celtic Connections with the Tanino Duo in 2016, as part of a Chamber Orchestra
Has performed with numerous contemporary folk and tango ensembles in Argentina
Has performed in Europe over the last ten years, touring 16 times during that time, mainly due to the appeal of tango music
Is a Hohner endorser and appeared at the Hohner Masters Workshop in 2023 and The World Harmonica Festival in 2025
Looking forward to more travels, including to Asia, to help share Argentinian music around the world
Tango music fits very well on the chromatic harmonica
Teaches in Beunos Aires where Santiago is the Professor of History of Tango and History of Folklore In the EARI School since 2014
Can also study chromatic harmonica at the Conservatoire in Trossingen and one in Rome
Ten minute question
Argentinian music is often learned by a combination of sheet music and by ear
Santiago teaches online and has also created an online video course
Previously taught at the FEN Festival in Berlin
Plays the Hohner Super 64 Performance chromatic, making use of that especially for octaves
Doesn’t use customisers, playing the chromatic out of the box but does sometimes send them for maintenance
Diatonic of choice is Hohner Marine Band
Mainly uses a C chromatic for everything, although does sometimes use an A chromatic
Tango music is in a range of keys, with some keys more common and minor keys very common
Has not pursued playing overblows on the diatonic for Argentinian music, but some other Argentine players do that
Uses a Shure SM58
Uses a Boss reverb pedal as the only effect
Requests sound engineer to reduce high frequencies and raise low frequencies
Likes to control reverb himself, using a small amount of reverb
Holds the mic when performing live, using mouth / throat / jaw vibratos, but uses hand effects when recording
Meeting the other players at Trossingen and the brotherhood of harmonica
New ensemble playing with a piano and double bass
Plans to travel to Asia to take tango there
New album with the piano and double bass likely being released later in 2026
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Show notes
Santiago Alvarez joins me on episode 147. Santiago is a chromatic player from Buenos Aires, who has dedicated himself to the folk traditions of Argentina, including writing a thesis on the history of the Argentine chromatic harmonica under the guidance of his mentor Franco Luciani. Specialising in tango, he explores the close musical relationship between the chromatic harmonica and the bandoneon. Santiago has recorded with numerous Argentine artists, released his own album in 2019, performs w...
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