Antonio Arce is making music half a world away from his childhood home in Argentina

Dec. 17—CASS LAKE — When Antonio Arce was 11 years old, he picked up one of his father's guitars, and although he could barely get his arm around the instrument, he became obsessed.

Half a century later, he is still making music despite being half a world away from his childhood home in Argentina.

The 63-year-old Bemidji man, whose day job is Distance Learning Coordinator at Leech Lake Tribal College, will be one of the performers at the Nary School Christmas program at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17.

After a holiday trip to visit family in Argentina, he'll be back on stage Friday nights at LogJammerz Bar and Grill in Cass Lake.

Arce and his wife, Margaret Lubke, moved to Bemidji four years ago. He has been performing solo gigs and at open mic events. He loves to share stories about his songs, taking audiences deeper into the music. He especially enjoys playing and singing romantic songs in Spanish.

"Music is a connection," Arce said. "When you understand the words and the melody you can connect."

He learned that firsthand as a teenager after he heard James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend."

"I didn't understand any of the words, but I just fell in love with his music," Arce said. "When I moved (to the U.S.) and I was listening to it on the radio, this time I understood the words. It was a song I needed to learn. It's one of about 10 songs I know in English."

Arce's father was a professional musician whose popular band toured in Argentina and Bolivia, so he was exposed to music throughout his childhood. That would form the basis for his own music.

He earned a technical degree in agronomy in Argentina and moved from his hometown to nearby Bolivia to work with indigenous people on agriculture practices. He then moved to Mexico, where he taught farmers who could not read or write.

"I used a lot of graphics and pictures to teach them," Arce said.

He first moved to the United States in 1993 when he was invited to join the Ezra Taft Benson Institute at Brigham Young University in Utah.

The institute works to improve the nutrition and health of the rural poor by providing agricultural science and technology. It also allowed Arce to complete his bachelor's degree in horticultural sciences with a minor in international development.

He went on to earn a master's degree at Utah State University. It was there that he met Margaret, who was a research professor. They were married in 2000. Arce continued his career in education, first in a suburban Salt Lake City school district; then in Fort Duchesne, Utah; Ignacio, Colo.; and Taos, N.M.

Shortly after the couple moved to Bemidji in 2018, his father was losing his battle with cancer, and the son went home to Argentina for what would be a final visit.

"When he was dying he wanted to sing," Arce recalls. "He said, 'I want to leave this world singing.' He couldn't sing anymore but I was playing the guitar for him and he was moving his mouth and closing his eyes, because the music was his life."

Music also is a big part of Arce's life. He has developed his own style of playing and singing despite not knowing notes and guitar chords in either Spanish or English, which came as a surprise to his wife, who minored in music.

"I love his music," Margaret said. "It was totally shocking to me that someone could be as talented without having any idea how to read music in any way."

Arce explained, "I was so excited to just play that I never learned the names of the chords. This is the way I've played all my life."

Mike Naylor, a fellow Bemidji musician, is impressed with the passion Arce puts into his songs.

"He's a true musician," Naylor said. He's got the type of voice that's honest. He's singing his feelings."

When Arce first arrived in America, he wanted a new guitar. He found one at a local music store but did not have the $450 (or the credit) to pay for it. So he made an arrangement with the owner to stop in with $50 every month until it was paid for.

"He saw how desperate I was to have that guitar, so he agreed to the deal," Arce said.

Nine months later, the guitar was his. But now he needed a nice case for the instrument. He tried to make the same kind of monthly deal with the store owner.

"He told me 'I believe in you, Antonio. Just take the case and come by and pay every month.'"

With new guitar (and case) in hand, Arce started sharing his gift of music. While taking graduate classes, he worked full-time at a car wash, but supplemented that income with tips and sometimes free meals at his gigs.

"So my music helped me just to live in this country," he said.