Nini Remartinez, was a singer of the duo Remartinez Sisters, famous radio artists in the 1940s. Maria Carolina (Nini) Remartinez was born in 1919 and had long lived in the Casa do Artista. Her sister Fernanda was born in 1916 and died in 1955. The duo participated in many programmes of Emissora Nacional, such as Hora de Fantasia, Ouvindo as Estrelas and Serões para Trabalhadores. They were also members of the Female Choir of Emissora Nacional.
I obtain the following from an old interview she gave me: "We sang typical Portuguese things and an Argentinean conductor came here with a tango orchestra, who was conductor Carlos Flores. He had typical things from the Argentinean pampas and it was a great success. We had the possibility [...]. Carlos Flores heard us singing. At that time, artists used to get together a lot at the Palladium, near the Glória lift, and Luís Piçarra, many artists of that time, Tomás Alcaide - have you heard of him? - a great artist... They met there at the Palladium. Meanwhile, the conductor Carlos Flores [...]. Artists gathered there, mostly the men. Not women. At that time, there wasn't that much camaraderie of going to the cafés. [...] Carlos Flores heard us singing and he was surprised. And as he knew Luís Piçarra, he asked him if he could talk to us to ask us if we wanted to sing typical Argentinean things. And he wanted to meet us. We said yes, we were very enchanted with him because he was a great artist and a great Argentinean composer. Then the tango orchestra left, and he stayed here, he stayed living here in Portugal. He still made music for several Portuguese films and we sang with him. Then we did a trio with Luís Piçarra. It was very well applauded and we also had other interpretations of Argentinean things, both of us with the conductor Carlos Flores. If you ask me, now I'm like the other one, if you ask me which genre I most liked to sing, it was the Argentinean style".
Original text with images, at https://radio.hypotheses.org/4317
Author: Rogério Santos, 2021
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