The Lupe (detail). Illustration: Esteban Isnardi. Esteban Isnardi: Uruguayan, cartoonist and in love with Cuban music
I am Uruguayan and I live in Geneva, Switzerland. Me first My contact with salsa was when I was very young, when I was four or five years old, because my uncle, who would later become a Protestant pastor, was a trumpeter in a Uruguayan salsa orchestra. His name was Walter Isnardi, he passed away last year and he was a very important figure for us, because he fought against the military dictatorship in Uruguay; and all my childhood was marked by home invasions or arrests of my father, in relation to the figure of my uncle.
At that very young age I also danced candombe (our Afro-Uruguayan folklore), and the rhythm, both of the drums and of the salsa, awakened a passion in me. I learned to dance in Uruguay and Argentina (I arrived in Switzerland at the age of 14 as a refugee with my parents). Lor that I danced was known by the name of salsa... and then in Europe, in my different trips as a cartoonist —I lived a bohemian life— I was improving as a salsa dancer in various cities.
My first academic training was as a draftsman at the Swiss School of Decorative Arts, working with graphic artists. At the age of 22 I began to publish in magazines and newspapers in Switzerland, France, Italy and Uruguay especially. But I am mostly self-taught. I have made many caricature exhibitions around the world (Cuba, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, Lebanon, Armenia, Belarus, among many other countries).
I have songs co-authored with Robertón Hernández and with Pedrito Calvo Jr. My favorite orchestra is Los Van Van. In May 2020 I will be exhibiting a good part of my cartoons in Cubadisco, some accompanied by what I have called CARIQUISTORIAS.
