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Beginnings

At the age of six, he joined the family ensemble, by then the Moreira Sextet, and playing the cavaquinho, a Brazilian ukelele[1] before taking up the guitar.

They travelled to Buenos Aires and had gigs at the Parque Japonés, Nuevo Theater and at the Luna Park. Later they travelled to Brazil.

By the age of ten, after his mother had died and father had committed suicide (1919), he found himself an orphan working sporadically as a dancer and musician on the streets of Santos, Brazil. Whe he saved enough money, he bought a guitar and started to play professionally in party venues, forming the "Los Lobos" duo with his friend, Brazilian guitarist Gastón Bueno Lobo, with whom he would return to Buenos Aires in 1925 to work under contract for the comedian Pablo Palitos.

In Buenos Aires, they formed a trio with violinist Elvino Vardaro. They added tango to their repertoire, and recorded with Agustín Magaldi and later played with Carlos Gardel and Enrique Santos Discépolo.

Alemán played two guitars - mostly the d-hole Selmer Maccaferri (also played by Django Reinhardt), and a National Style 1 tri-cone resonator guitar.
Europe

In 1929 Los Lobos and dancer Harry Fleming travelled to Europe, and after the tour, Alemán stayed in Madrid and later moved to Paris to play guitar as a soloist.

In the 1930s, having discovered American Jazz via Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Alemán moved to Paris where he was hired by Josephine Baker to lead her band, the Baker Boys at the Cafe de Paris. This provided him an opportunity to play regularly with American Jazz musicians who would come to see Josephine and sit in with her band.

He made the acquaintance of Django Reinhardt while in Paris, and would sometimes substitute for the notoriously unreliable gypsy, but never recorded with him.

Again as a solo act, he toured Europe, playing with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington.

Alemán later formed his own nine-piece band which would play nightly at the Le Chantilly in Paris.
Return to Argentina


The Nazi invasion of France during World War II forced him to return to Argentina. He continued playing there with his hit Rosa madreselva, and continued to record and perform with both a swing quintet, as well as with a nine-piece orchestra.

From his relationship with the actress Carmen Vallejo he had a daughter, Selva Alemán.

In 1972 at age 63, Alemán recorded a new album which helped re-launch his career with the reissue of many of his previous recordings, along with concert dates and television appearances.

He continued to teach and perform in his native country until his death in 1980 at 71 years of age.

In 2002, the Internacional Festival of Jazz Guitar «Oscar Alemán», was created in his honor.

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