Marcelo Decall

Marcelo Decall was born and raised in the Alta Córdoba neighbourhood of Córdoba, Argentina, on Sarachaga Street between Lavalleja and Jujuy, in a household whose parents and grandparents had likewise been born with a midwife's help. As a teenager he spent time at the pool hall La Burra, where he began to form his social and musical circle.

Exact public records of his birth date were not given in the obituaries; he was 64 when he died in October 2026.

At the end of the 1970s Decall played with foundational Córdoba rock groups Aporiro and Almavelero, including dates at the Festival de Rock de La Falda. In the early 1980s he and his brother Alan founded Pasaporte with bassist Federico Geier and drummer Horacio De Maussion (later Popi Pedrosa). After fruitless trips to Buenos Aires record companies, radio exposure on Mario Pereyra's programme connected them to entrepreneur Nono Pugliese and the Corazón label.

Fuerzas del interior (1986), Estímulo (1987) and Simples canciones (1989) made Pasaporte a national act from Córdoba and a success in Bolivia. Arrangements on the debut were credited to Decall and keyboardist Daniel Castillo; songs included Impondré el amor, Electrónico estoy and Amor sin flash. La Voz reports that Pasaporte sold 30,000 copies, still unmatched by any other Córdoba rock or pop band.

While the band was still climbing, economic pressure led Decall to join Pelusa's band after Pelusa left Chébere. Given free rein as arranger and composer, he mixed new wave, reggae, blues and pop into cuarteto for the album Teléfono azul (1985), writing Whisky no and Exacto reloj. Pelusa later joked that he felt like the fifth member of Pasaporte, and SADAIC royalties from Pelusa's versions later helped Decall through harder years.

After the 2001 crisis Decall moved to Mexico with keyboardist Hueso Horsmann, played in restaurants, raced tunnel boats and worked on a geothermal field before returning to construction work in Argentina. Back in Córdoba he reformed Pasaporte as lead singer around 2013 with Geier and Pedrosa, played Griego Rock, and recorded Contando estrellas and other new material in Traslasierra.

Obituaries described Decall as a figure who mixed rock-star presence with a mischievous Córdoba warmth, coloured by Mexican speech patterns from his years abroad. His brother Alan was his early bandmate in Pasaporte; later personal tensions between the brothers were noted in La Voz's account of the reunion years. His brother-in-law Pepe Angonoa was the family member who confirmed his death to the press.

Decall suffered a stroke months before his death and spent successive periods in Hospital Tránsito Cáceres de Allende, the Vida Plena rehabilitation centre in Argüello, and the Instituto Modelo de Rehabilitación in Unquillo. He died there on Thursday 15 October 2026, aged 64. Pepe Angonoa confirmed the news to La Voz del Interior; Infobae reported that the National Music Institute (INAMU) also acknowledged his death.

Decall is remembered as a hitmaker of Córdoba's golden pop decade and as a bridge between rock, new wave and cuarteto. Pasaporte's sales record and songs such as Fuerzas del interior, together with Pelusa standards Whisky no and Exacto reloj, keep his writing in circulation. Local tributes called him an indispensable figure for understanding Córdoba music of the 1980s.