Carla Pugliese: Is It Hard to Be a Granddaughter of Osvaldo Pugliese?
It is often said that family is their very first teacher. Advocates of early childhood learning place great emphasis on the role of the family as a primary influence in a person's behavior, intelligence, language, and other important aspects of their character and belief systems.
As a child spends their formative years with their family or a family unit, what they learn during these years can significantly affect what they may choose to become in the future.
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In terms of one's career or life path, it is unsurprising to see, for instance, a family of doctors produce another doctor through their child or grandchild. It is the same in any profession or inclination — even more so perhaps in families that pursue creative endeavours.
Music, dance, art — all these can easily catch a child's attention, especially if their home environment actively encourages their participation.
As other members of the family engage in these creative pursuits, a child may also be inspired to follow in their footsteps when mentorship becomes a way for the child to bond with parents or older relatives. This early exposure to creative mediums can help unleash a child’s gifts, allowing them to cultivate their talent at such a young age.
One can say that Carla Pugliese, award-winning composer of contemporary tango music, is the product of such a family environment.
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At the age of six, Carla began to study classical music and Scaramuzza’s technique, which exposed her to the language of tango in song. Her mother, Bebe Pugliese, was also a musician and became her first mentor.
As she grew older, Carla would go on numerous world tours playing her music, release multiple albums, and win awards for her compositions.
While Carla made her own mark as an artist, it seemed that the shadow of her grandfather — renowned tango musician Osvaldo Pugliese — followed her around.
Grandfather and Granddaughter
As it often happens with those who have famous relatives, many people tend to reference Osvaldo Pugliese or even use his music as somewhat of a yardstick with which to measure Carla’s own creations. In fact, in an interview published in Argentina es Tango, Carla was asked whether it would have been less burdensome to start her career with another surname. This was her response, translated from Spanish:
“I started my career with my paternal surname Novelli, but nobody called me that. On stage, they always said Carla Pugliese on keyboards or piano, and that's how they started to say it, but my real name is Maria Carla Novelli.”
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In a way, this was rather inevitable, as Osvaldo Pugliese was considered as one of the “big four” composers in the Golden Age of tango. Alongside other renowned tango musicians such as Juan D’Arienzo, Aníbal Troilo, and Carlo di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese was lauded for his talent and artistry. According to a post from Brisbane House of Tango,
“While D’Arienzo was considered ‘The King of Beat,’ Pugliese was hailed as ‘San Pugliese’ or ‘Saint Pugliese’ for his dramatic and passionate melodies. He is also considered to have developed the concert-style tango music.”
When it comes to their upbringing, Osvaldo and Carla are the same: Osvaldo was exposed to tango music at an early age.
According to Todo Tango: “His father, Adolfo, a worker in the shoe industry, was an amateur flutist. He played in quartets, which dug tango in the vicinity. [Osvaldo’s] two elder brothers played the violin: Adolfo Salvador Vicente (Fito) and Alberto Roque. The latter was more involved than the former and was linked to music for several years. It was his father who taught him his first music lessons; he started his first steps with violin too, but soon he switched to piano, although it took Don Adolfo a certain time to buy the expensive instrument. After being trained at Conservatories nearby, at 15, [Osvaldo] started professionally at the Café de La Chancha, so called by the customers in allusion to the lack of hygiene of the owner.”
Of course, Osvaldo Pugliese went on to become a celebrated tango musician for decades. Though Osvaldo and Carla were born to musical families, their musical styles were quite distinct. According to a post from Barriada, translated from Spanish:
“She is Osvaldo Pugliese's granddaughter, yes. Daughter and disciple of Beba Pugliese. But do not ask her to perform ‘La Yumba’ [one of Osvaldo Pugliese’s more famous pieces]. Her repertoire does not include her grandfather's or her mother's songs. She loves them as family, admires them as musicians, but her strong artistic and creative personality is channeled through her own compositions.
“Carla Pugliese (María Carla Novelli Pugliese) has stepped on stages in Argentina and the world, offering the uniqueness of her style as a composer and performer. She has also left her mark on three recordings.”
While grandfather and granddaughter were able to spend time together until Carla was 18— when Osvaldo passed away — their personalities are also worlds apart. Osvaldo was known to be an outspoken communist who was jailed several times during the dictatorial regime of Argentina’s former president, Juan Peron. On the other hand, Carla appears to have a quieter but equally steadfast spirit. In her jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes, and canvas bracelet, Carla is younger than she looks — but no less skilled. Though comparisons are often made, Carla does not seem to be bothered by it.
To quote an article translate from Spanish from Last FM, Carla says:
“[...] I compose and I don't feel the weight of anything. Everyone in my family is a musician and this has helped me a lot: I don't have to measure up to anyone. I have seen people dancing and filling the dance floor with my music. The tango environment is closed, but so far no one has raised any questions to me. And if they did, I wouldn't worry.”
Dealing With Comparisons
It takes a lot for someone to have the level of confidence Carla has when it comes to having a “famous” family member. It is not unheard of for other people in a similar situation to feel insecure and invisible compared to their celebrity parent, sibling, or relative. In some cases, a person may even feel as though their efforts are not being recognized simply because there are more eyes on their famous relative. This can be especially true if they’re in the same industry or pursue the same creative endeavors.
In fact, according to Psychology Today:
“When your parents are the ones who are famous, though, it can be a tough act to follow. It is the children who often pay the price of parental celebrity. The insecurity in the household, the tension, the career and mood ups and downs, the errant, hectic schedules, and the long absences all coalesce to shift a great deal of the emotional burden to the kids.”
This statement can also apply to siblings, or to grandparents and grandchildren.
In extreme cases, a relative may even harbor such resentment that it can even lead to suicide. This was what happened to Julia Roberts’ sister, Nancy Motes. As reported by People Daily:
“American actress and producer and Pretty Woman star Julia Robberts’ younger sister Nancy Motes in 2017 committed suicide after years of struggling to live under Julia Roberts shadow. In her suicide note, Nancy places the blame for her depression squarely on the shoulders of her superstar step-sister. She expressed how much she resented her sister’s success.”
There are those who deliberately choose another career or passion to escape the shadow cast by their famous relative — and some emerge successful. However, it is undoubtedly more difficult for one to pursue a similar path as comparisons, it seems, will never go away. Thus, how does someone like Carla Pugliese deal with this kind of situation?
A post from Last FM, translated from Spanish, gives us an insight about her thoughts on the matter:
“For her, her grandfather was ‘a musician who had it all: lots of blood, a style of his own, talent for creating and playing, for being, for the most part, self-taught in orchestration and harmony.’
“Carla has just returned from Japan, where her grandfather is also adored. ‘Many people would approach with records signed by him for me to autograph. This gave me great pleasure, although I can share things. I've never considered my music to be a continuity of his, but rather a continuity of what's being done now. Beyond dynasty, I have my own style.’”
Further to the issue of being compared, Carla makes it clear in another interview that she isn’t really afraid if some people use her grandfather or even her mother’s creations as a means to measure the quality or artistry of her compositions. From the interview with Argentina es Tango, Carla says:
“Mainly I am not afraid of any magnifying glass, as no magnifying glass scared neither my grandfather, nor my grandmother Chola (Maria Concepción Florio) nor my mother in their political times. And pianistically, why doesn't it scare me? Because I am a concert pianist of classical music and I studied and study a lot. Any comparison with a magnifying glass is better than a score with pencil and eraser in hand…”
A Sense of Self Through Family
In many of her interview responses, Carla mentions the connectedness of her family rather than the fame that her grandfather had. Perhaps this is precisely what has allowed her to maintain a strong sense of her own individuality.
Instead of trying to step out of her grandfather’s enormous spotlight, Carla was able to cast her own light through her music.
One can even say that she might not have ever been in Osvaldo Pugliese’s shadow despite facing some challenges that came with having a famous grandfather.
Carla had her own shadow to begin with, and she seems to be aware of it from the start.
Making Her Mark
As a musician, Carla has made her own mark with three albums on her belt: Eléctrica y Porteña, La Vida y la Tempestad (a live album which features her concert in Tokyo), and Milonga Sola. Among her many tours and accolades, Carla has also won the Gardel Award for La Vida y la Tempestad, while Eléctrica y Porteña was nominated for the same award. Her tango song, “Ostinato,” was also used for the film Pasaje, directed by Secar Khapur.
While awards and applause aren’t always the measure of success, it is easy to see that Carla did not fall into the trap many others did when having a famous relative. If anything, her awards and compositions — past, present, and future — are testaments to the fact that her strong sense of self and artistry have always been inspired by her family.