Note: The recording of Antonio Porchia’s voice took place between 1963 and 1964 at the studios of LS1 Municipal Radio in Buenos Aires, as part of a series of programs called  “Introduction to the night of Buenos Aires.” In this series the voices of numerous Argentine writers were broadcast to the accompaniment of tango music. Such programs were first recorded in the studio, and then the sections where the authors read their work were edited and mixed with the musical accompaniment. This is how Antonio Porchia was invited to read his voices. As soon as the program went on air, the response was immediate: listeners wrote in to congratulate Porchia, and some even turned up at the station during broadcast time to meet the author, thinking mistakenly that the show was recorded “live.” Listener response was so enthusiastic that in 1967 Héctor Yanover, owner of the Librería Norte [Norte Bookshop], decided to produce a 33 rpm record with a selection of voices. The record, which sold out quickly, carried on its back cover a biographical sketch of Porchia written by the poet Lysandro Galtier. Julio Álvarez Vieyra, who was at the time working on the production of the radio show, had the inspired idea of saving the original tapes with Porchia’s voice; Mr. Álvarez Vieyra jealously treasured them until the beginning of 2006, when they were re-recorded onto a CD. Afterwards, in an agreement with Porchia’s heirs, the tapes were handed over to the publishing house Pre-Textos in Valencia, Spain, whose editors included a CD of Porchia’s voice with each copy of their fine edition of Voces Reunidas (the collected works of Porchia, published in 2006).

Ángel Ros.