ultimo... lo nuevo, lo ultimo... lo nuevo, lo ultimo... lo ... - Marcelo Burlon

MARCELO BURLON ENTERPRISE • Press Review • March 2012
Deep roots never dry
up, even when the
lymph is coming from
the hard frost.
MARCELO THE MAN FROM EL BOLSÒN
/
TEXT GIULIA DI BUGNO
Photo from the vacations album of Macs Iotti
Andrea Rosso, Denise Zatti, Nicola "Ceri" Specchio
Tommaso Vaiani and Dario Ghezzi.
www.elbolson.gov.ar
He came from the Patagonian frost to
arrive, across the ocean, to the wintery
cold, of northern Italy: it's Marcelo Burlon,
the Argentinian editor in chief of Rodeo
magazine, also a club promoter and
successful event manager. It's been a few
years since Marcelo moved to Milan, but
as he promptly states “my native land, El
Bolsòn, is my real landmark, the constant
horizon of my life, the warm place where
I like to hide, the safe shore for my old
age”. He says that with an overpowering
nostalgia for those uncontaminated places,
for the life style so far from the hectic
rhythm of the European capital where he
arrived with a bag full of expectations.
“I'm not nostalgic: I chose Milan and I'm
happy about it” he retorts. “But when I
went back to Patagonia, after 12 years of
absence, I rediscovered my real essence,
my past and, I guess, my future. Now I
feel the need to spend some time there
every year, maybe with the company of
Milanese friends, as I did few months
ago. It's incredible and at the same time
fantastic, to see people that belong to my
current life coming into contact with my
roots, with that unique way of living and
sharing things and emotions that is so
102
typical of my mother land. My present,
anyway, is here with you, in Italy, in this
incredible and exciting city, where, you
can bet, I'll win all my battles!”.
Battles that Marcelo is actually already
winning. In a very short time, he became
one of the landmarks of Milan's nightlife;
by the way is the organizer of “Pink is
Punk” one of the coolest meeting points
for fashionistas in town.
“Let's not exaggerate” he says, self confidently
but not cheekily “in the end I
only organize parties and participate in
projects, having fun putting together different
kinds of persons”. The leap from
the silence of the native land to the noise
of the Padanian capital is anyway remarkable.
“I actually think I lived two lives,
that came together in that world without
frontiers called communication, my all
time passion”. He then clarifies ”let's
put it this way: also my current occupation
represents a going back to my roots.
My mother has always been working in a
travel agency and, consequently, she has
always been in contact with many people
and had the chance to communicate with
many people. I think I learned a lot from
my mother”. The family, he stresses firmly,
is and remains, despite of the independence
and success gained, his only landmark.
“It could not be different. I arrived
in Italy with my parents in 1990, at the
age of 13 during that delicate moment of
transition from childhood to adolescence.
A shock very hard to face if you don't
have sound values to stick to”.
From Patagonia to Marche to Milan,
passing through Riccione. “ A real existence
journey. I was only fourteen when,
in order to help my family, I decided
to go to work. In a short order I moved
from the immense valleys of Patagonia
to a shoe factory in central
Italy. A very hard leap, that
nevertheless formed me and
helped me to find strength
and determination; the same
qualities that brought me to
Milan afterwards”. Fairly
proud of himself, Marcelo
remembers his first steps:
“when I was a kid I plaid pretending to
be a radio host and recorded my “on-air”
program over cassettes, in a friend's garage
using a mega boombox stolen from
my father.
Then the fashion shows organized in my
courtyard... my imagination was already
going towards public relations and fashion.
The funny thing is that I didn't even
know that organizing parties and making
people meet could become a real job. I