His name was Israel Kaflún and he was born in Balvanera, at a tenement house. His father, Leiser Kaflún, who had come from Bessarabia, humbly made aliving as an itinerant seller of caps and hats. He carried them in a big wicker basket. Clara Finkel, his wife, was also Besarab. The first known piece by Kaplún was the waltz "Recordandoa Musmé", with lyrics by Manuel Ferradas Campos, published in 1935. Another waltz of his com- posed ni 1942 was "Nunca supe por qué", with lyrics by Luis Rubistein. With Victor Lamanna he wrote in 1952 the tango "Casa de Carriego" which was sung by Héctor Mauré. Up to April 1946 hehad performed alongside Demare at the shows on Radio El Mundo, at the Palermo Palace and at the cabarets Novelty and Casanova, besides the recordings for Odeon. When the composer of"Malena" decided to travel to Cuba, Kaplún split with the group to put together his own orchestra in June that year. He teamed up with the vocalist Horacio Quintana as his trump-card and trus- ted the arrangements to Julio Ceilin and, occasionally, to Máximo Mori, who some- times led the bandoneon section which was lined up by Juan Kusta and the brothers Jorge and Mario Luongo. Their debut was at the El Nacional café, later they appeared at the Tango Bar and at the Sans Souci, simultaneously they performed on Belgrano radio station.