Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel (
11 December 1890 –
24 June 1935) was an enormously popular
tango singer during the inter-war years. His death in an airplane crash at the height of his career created an image of a tragic hero on both shores of the
River Plate. For many music fans, Gardel embodies the soul of the tango, a musical form and dance which evolved in the
barrios of Buenos Aires and
Montevideo at the end of the
19th century.
Gardel possessed a
baritone voice deployed with unerring musicality and dramatic phrasing, creating miniature masterpieces among the hundreds of three-minute tangos which he recorded during his lifetime. Together with his long-term collaborator, lyricist
Alfredo Le Pera, Gardel also wrote several classic tangos, notably
Mi Buenos Aires querido, Amores de Estudiante, Soledad, Volver, Por una cabeza and El día que me quieras.
Gardel began his career singing in bars and at private parties and in 1911 formed a duet with Francisco Martino, and after with
José Razzano (which would last until 1925), singing a wide repertory. Gardel made the music his own by inventing the
tango-canción in 1917 with
Mi Noche Triste, a Pascual Contursi and Samuel Castriota`s theme, which sold a 100,000 copies and was a hit throughout Latin America. Gardel went on to tour
Argentina,
Uruguay,
Chile,
Brazil,
Puerto Rico,
Venezuela,
Colombia and made appearances in
Barcelona, Madrid,
Paris and
New York. He sold 70,000 records in the first three months of a 1928 visit to Paris. As his popularity grew, he made a number of films for Paramount in France and the U.S., which were essentially vehicles for his singing and matinée-idol looks.
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Carlos Gardel impersonator/street performer; image details at http://contentdm.nitle.org/u?/realia,1418 |
When Gardel and his collaborator Le Pera were killed in an airplane crash in
Medellín,
Colombia in 1935, millions of his fans throughout
Latin America went into mourning. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body travelled via
Colombia,
New York and
Rio de Janeiro to
Montevideo,
Uruguay where his mother lived. There he was put on lit de parade while thousands of uruguayans rendered hommage to their beloved singer. After two days the singer's body travelled to its final resting place in
La Chacarita cemetery in
Buenos Aires.
Gardel is still revered from Buenos Aires to Tokyo, where people like to say that "he sings better every day." His fans still like to place a lit cigarette in the fingers of the life-sized statue which adorns his tomb. One of Gardel's favorite phrases,
Veinte años no es nada (
Twenty years is nothing) became a famous saying across
Latin America.
Fuente: Julián y Osvaldo Barsky (2004),
Gardel la biografía, Taurus.
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A statue of Carlos Gardel outside the Abasto Market in Buenos Aires, near which he grew up. |
Regarding Gardel´s birth place, there are two main theories.
One claims that Gardel was born in
Uruguay, in a small town called
Valle Edén, located in the Uruguayan region of
Tacuarembó. This position is based on one document, newspaper interviews of the time and oral tradition.
Another position claims that Gardel was born as Charles Romuald Gardès in
Toulouse,
France, to an unknown father and Berthe Gardès (1865-1943), said to have brought him to Argentina at age 27 months. A French birth certificate exists; the original is reportedly owned by the estate of Gardel expert and
Puerto Rican radio personality,
Gilbert Mamery. The other document that the theorists presents is Gardel`s testament, written by himself. In that document, Carlos Gardel afirms that he was born in Toulose, France.
The debate still provokes passionate discussions in Uruguay, Argentine and France, although experts on Gardel tend to gravitate towards a French birth.
When asked about his nationality he would answer
I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the age of 2 years and a half... It is debated that Gardel was evasive about the answer as to hide the circumstances of his birth to a single mother.
Font: Julián and Osvaldo Barsky (argentinians) (2004),
Gardel the biography, Taurus Edition.
In 1915 Carlos Gardel was supposedly wounded after being shot by
Che Guevara's father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, as a result of a bar room brawl in the
belle epoque Palais de Glace in the
Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, though different version point out that he was shot either on the chest, or on the leg, and a third version explains that the Guevara to shoot him was not the Che's father but Roberto Guevara, a high-class boy often involved in quarrels[
1].
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Flor de Durazno (1917) (silent)This was the first film of Carlos Gardel. Francisco Defilippis Novoa was the director, and also counted with Celestino Petray.Fuente: Julián y Osvaldo Barsky (2004), Gardel la biografía, Taurus.
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Luces de Buenos Aires (1931) (filmed in Paris)
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Esperame (1933)
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La Casa es seria (1933)
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Melodia de Arrabal (1933)
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Cuesta abajo (1934)
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El Tango en Broadway (1934)
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El Día que me quieras (1935)
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Cazadores de estrellas (1935)
Julián & Osvaldo Barsky (2004),
Gardel la biografía, Editorial Taurus.
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gardelbiografia (Spanish)
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The Uruguayan version (Spanish)
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Internet Movie Database entry*
Chronicles*
Carlitos*
Gardel Web (Spanish)
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Biography (Spanish)
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History (Spanish)
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Carlos Gardel's Gravesite
