Carlos Gardel, (born December 11, 1890, Toulouse, France—died June 24, 1935, Medellín, Colombia), Argentine singer and actor, celebrated throughout Latin America for popularizing of tango music.

 

Carlos Gardel was born in Toulouse, France as CHARLES ROMUALD GARDÈS on December 11, 1890 of an unknown father and Marie Berthe Gardès (1865-1943) who brought him to Argentina in 1893 at 27 months of age. In his new homeland and until 1912, he was known as CARLOS GARDES (or Gardez). Since then, he changed it to the artistic nickname CALOS GARDEL by which he was known for the rest of his life.

 

Career: Known as El Zorzal Criollo (The Trush), the songbird of Buenos Aires, Carlos Gardel is a legendary figure in Argentina. The charismatic French-born singer's career coincided with the development of that intrinsically Argentine cultural icon, the Tango, the music, song and dance of Buenos Aires' tenements - arrabales.

Gardel began his career singing in bars and parties and in 1913 formed a duet with José Razzano (which would last until 1925), singing a wide variety of folk songs. Gardel made the music his own by inventing the Tango-song, with his 1917 hit Mi Noche Triste, (which sold a 100.000 copies) and was an instant popular hit in Latin American countries. Gardel toured Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and cities like Barcelona, Paris and New York. He sold 70.000 records in the first three months of a 1928 visit to Paris. During his short life, he recorded a total of 770 themes, including 514 tangos.

Gardel's huge popularity as an interpreter of the melancholy ballads of the tango was confirmed in the 1920s and 30s in nightclubs and motion pictures made for the Spanish-speaking market. His early pictures were made in Paramount’s Joinville Studios in France: Luces de Buenos Aires (1931; “Lights of Buenos Aires, Melodia de Arrabal (1932; “Melody of the Suburbs”), Esperame (1933; “Wait for Me”), and the short La Casa es seria (1933; “The House Is Somber”). His later films were produced in New York by Gardel’s Exito's Spanish Pictures and Paramount Pictures: Cuesta abajo (1934; “Downhill Slope”), El Tango en Broadway (1934; “The Tango on Broadway”), El Día que me quieras (1935; “The Day That You Love Me”), Tango-Bar (1935), and Cazadores de estrellas (1935; “Hunters of Stars”), (Spanish version of The Big Broadcast of 1936)  Gardel's sketch was retained in the Spanish version, but cut from the English-language version owing to his death in June 1935, prior to the film's release in the USA in September 1935.



The tragic end: Gardel's sky-rocketing career was cut short in 1935, when he lost his life in a plane crash in Medellin, Colombia on June 24, 1935. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body made the journey traveling via Colombia, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo to his final resting place in La Chacarita cemetery, Buenos Aires with the multitude listening to his tango Silencio. Instantly immortal and preserved forever young, his enduring fame is measured by the oft-heard Argentine expression "Gardel sings better every day". Seventy six years after his death, a devoted following keeps the legend blazing, playing Gardel's music daily and placing a lit cigarette in the hand of the life-sized statue which graces his tomb and keeping his few films in circulation.

 

Gardel Myth: When the First World War erupted, France called upon all of its citizens around the World to report for military service. Gardel and many French born residents of Argentina did not respond to the call. With the increasing popularity of Tango in Europe, Gardel wanted to make his mark there but feared being sentenced to a jail term if he visited France. With help of some of his friends, he falsified a number of documents in 1920 which stated that he was born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay. During his life, but more so after his death, the myth gained momentum and solely based on the false documents. Today's prosperity of the eastern Uruguayan town of Tacuarembó can in part be attributed to Gardel's legacy. Thousands of tourists flock to that town each year to visit supposed "Gardel's Birthplace". The Myth continues to be fuelled by economical interests and including the support of the Uruguayan government. The fact is that 121 years after Gardel's birth, no birth certificate or any legal document exists as to support the Myth including lack of any proof that Gardel ever visited Tacuarembó.

 

Bibliography: The best source on Gardel in English language is the history professor Simon Collier (1938-2003), author of Gardel biography "The Life, Music, and Times of Carlos Gardel". Published by University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986, hardcover, printed in The United States and England. There are many other sources on Gardel in Spanish language including “Carlos Gardel: Sus Antecedentes Franceses” (2006; "Carlos Gardel: His French Origins") also published in French by Monique Ruffié de Saint-Blancat, Juan Carlos Esteban and Georges Galopa and “Gardel, la Biografía” (2004; "Gardel, the Biography") by Julián and Osvaldo Barsky.