Eduardo "Polo" Román, emblematic voice of Los Chalchaleros, has died.

Eduardo "Polo" Román, a long-time member of the Argentine folk group Los Chalchaleros, has died at the age of 83. His career spanned more than five decades dedicated to popular music, first with Juan Carlos Saravia, Ernesto Cabeza, and "Pancho" Figueroa, and later with the addition of Facundo Saravia, until his final retirement from the group in 2002.

After the group's dissolution, Román launched a new musical project under the name Polo Román y Salta Trío, a project that began in 2016 and reconnected him with the public through new performances alongside Félix, Marcelo Mena, and Gustavo Ciansi.

In an interview given years ago, Román described his time at Los Chalchaleros as "the greatest thing that ever happened to me." "I have a family, four children, and that's incredibly important, but I did all of that because I was at Los Chalchaleros. I met the mother of my children here in Mar del Plata," he recounted with emotion.

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Polo Román on stage in his final years touring with Salta Trio.

She also expressed her sadness at the group's closing: “It was very sad. Gordo Juan Carlos (Saravia) was having health problems. He had said that when it became difficult for him to get on stage, he would stop singing. With Facundo, his son, we put together the farewell. We toured all the places we had sung in during so many years of our career: America, Europe, our entire country. In Buenos Aires, we performed 26 shows at the Coliseo to a packed house. The people loved us; we felt the affection and the love. Every time I went on stage, I thought: 'One less. And it's going to end.' Personally, it hurt my soul that it ended, because it was a very beautiful stage of my life.”

The Chalchaleros recorded around 750 songs, including “Zamba de mi esperanza”, “Mamá vieja”, “El arriero”, “Yo vendo unos ojos negros”, “La López Pereyra”, “La nochera”, “Zamba del Chalchalero” and “Zamba del grillo”, by Atahualpa Yupanqui, which was the first one they sang in their debut at the Alberdi Theater in Salta.

In 1998, the group celebrated its half-century of history with a national and international tour that extended until 2002, symbolically closing on June 16 in Salta, the same city where they had performed for the first time exactly 54 years earlier.

Eduardo Román leaves behind an immense musical legacy, marked by folkloric tradition, his connection with his audiences, and the warmth of his voice. His presence on stage was an essential part of the popular songbook of the Río de la Plata region, and his passing leaves an indelible mark on the regional culture.