(*) Humberto Constantini (1924-1987) was a playwright, novelist and storyteller.  Between 1963 and 1975 he published the books: "Un señor alto, rubio, de bigotes", "Tres monólogos", "Cuestiones con la vida/Questions with life", "Una vieja historia de caminantes", "Háblenme de Funes", "Los héroes de Trelew", and "Bandeo".  His novel "De dioses, hombrecitos y policias/Gods, the Little Guys, and the Police", was translated into English, as well as German, Hebrew, and Bulgarian. Constantini died on June 7, 1987 leaving unfinished his latest novel, "Rapsodia de Raquel Liberman".

  Nowadays it is not unusual to be a single mother, but at the end of the 19th century, it was seen as a great disgrace. Berthe was poorly treated by her parents, who reproached her for being a single mother.  Because of this she did not immediately register the baby's birth and kept the boy hidden.

 Apparently she obtained some help from Lasserre, who paid for her tickets to immigrate to Argentina.  Up until that time the child was not in the civil registry.  It is uncertain how much time passed before Berthe decided to register him.  So, although Gardel's birth appears as December 11, 1890, he may have been born on December 11 of 1887 or 1884.

 The fact that Gardel later obtained an Uruguayan passport makes the story of his birth even more complicated.  Since he could not go back to France with the name of Charles Romuald Gardes, because he would have been a defector of the war of 1914, he had a passport made to the name of Carlos Gardel, born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay, December 11, 1887.  Gardel, however, always acknowledged his French origin.

HIS CAREER 

 Berthe arrived to the Argentine capital alone and abandoned, and upon arriving moved to live in the poor neighborhoods close to the River Plate.

 As the years went by, Gardel became a charming and vivacious young man, temperamental and irritable.  He resented the world for making him grow up in the most tragic state of misery, but at the same time he dreamed of one day being very wealthy.

 As a teenager he worked in an incredible variety of occupations that allowed him to subsist and help his mother.  He liked to sing, aware that he had a special gift, and took advantage by singing and making a few pennies here and there.  It was the same for him to sing on the street corners as it was in unimportant reunions, parties, receptions, and later habitually in businesses of ill-repute that operated clandestinely in Buenos Aires.

 He realized his voice had a peculiar and enjoyable ring.  His voice was liked which motivated him more.  Gardel started becoming known to the general public when, after singing in different places, private residences upon request, friends' houses, and neighborhood cafes, he was introduced commercially in the Esmeralda Theater (today known as the Maipo).
 

The year was 1917.  Gardel was 27 years old and sang accompanied by his own guitar and the one played by his friend Razzano, known as "el oriental".  Their repertoire included a vast amount of Argentine folklore: waltzes, cuecas, chacareras, gatos, melodies, and a few tangos. Gardel and Razzano met in 1911 and for many years they sang together in places that would become very famous such as the Armenonville.

 The enthusiasm of the listening public slowly determined that more tangos be included in his shows.  That is how, with time, he dedicated himself almost exclusively to singing tangos.  The turning point was when he included "Mi noche triste" from Castriota y Contursi, this song became a great success and marked the beginning of what would become a brilliant tango singing career.

 His admirers used to go listen to his performances repeatedly, this was at a time when live performances were the only way for the public to listen to singers.  During those days the music-publishing house Odeon began recording his songs.

 From then on the singer followed a path of success and glory, filling up the most prestigious theaters of Europe, especially Paris where he met Alfredo Le Pera.  Together they composed classic, unforgettable tangos such as "Volver", "El día que me quieras", "Por una cabeza" and "Cuando tú no estás".  Gardel's success in Paris was overwhelming, in Spain he was welcomed with great enthusiasm, and he quickly captivated all audiences.   Wherever he went he won the public with his humility, his music, and his songs.

 Radio, recordings, and films became the three powerful allies which Gardel could count on to increase his sensational success.
 

RADIO  Gardel burst into radio in the mid 1920's, as another member of the "new wave of tango".  In spite their popularity, the monetary earnings of the Gardel/Razzano duo for their first radio performances in Radio Grand Splendid Theater were not particularly generous.  Artists used to work for radio - a medium with only four years of existence in Argentina - for breakfast alone.  It is said that radio managers used to pay with boxes of Portuguese port wine and cookie packages.  On September 30, 1924 the newspaper announced the imminent debut of Gardel, accompanied by Francisco Canaro's orchestra and the guitarists José Ricardo and Guillermo Barbieri.  Fortunately for them, the hiring conditions at the time were very different.  For a two month cycle, playing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they could earn $500 a night, and the contract included a provision stating that the star would not sing more than six themes per program.

 Gardel himself said he felt radio was a very familiar medium, he felt comfortable working on radio:  "a sort of big theater where I don't see the spectators, but I can imagine them".  The relationship between the artist and his public was each time broader and more appreciative.  In his cycle in Radio Prieto, within only one month, Gardel received seventeen thousand letters.

 On October 21, 1930 he premiered a tango on the radio that made the whole country talk, it was "Yira yira" by Enrique Santos Discépolo.

 Gardel's radio presentations from 1934 have today a mythical aura as well as the impression of an incredible technical feat given the time at which they occurred.  On March 5, Gardel was in the NBC studios of New York while the guitarists Barbieri, Riverol and Vivas accompanied him from the Radio Rivadavia studios in Buenos Aires.  Gardel received the music from his headphones, over the short wave, he sang, and everything came out on the air perfectly over Radio Splendid.
 

GARDEL DIXIT   "Perhaps the hidden reason behind my victories lies in the deep passion I have for all that is Latin that leads me to concentrate, as if through a lens, all the fervor in my soul in the rhythm of the tangos and in the meaning of my songs." "It is not me the one succeeding, it's our tango the one prevailing. New York applauds our movies and our songs." "I am only a singer of nice musical forms from my land, which I try to interpret the best I can, and if you'd allow me the lack of humility, I am sure tango should be sung the way I try to do it." "Every success I have, no matter how small, overwhelms any of my expectations."

RECORDINGS  Music recording, first in cylinders and later in disks, was invented in the 19th century; the help of electric and electronic devices wouldn't come until well into the 20th century.  The mechanic or acoustic recordings were accomplished with a very large, simple horn, metallic at the beginning and made of other materials later, in front of which the orchestra would play or the singer would perform.  In the thinnest part of the horn there was a simple membrane which directly activated the needle that registered the sounds on the master record.  During those days there was no system to artificially modify the recording, and, although far from flawless, what was recorded was the direct result of what was executed in front of the metallic cone. To record a singing voice with that system you needed to have not only a good voice, but also a very powerful one.  Gardel's voice set the standard.

FILMS

From its beginning and until the end of the 1930's, tango, burlesque, and Argentine movies shared a common destiny.  The first two films by Deffilipis Novoa in which Gardel participated were done during this period.  Gardel's performance in these films was brief and unremarkable.  "Flor de Durazno" was the first and only appearance of Gardel in the silent movies.  "I am a singer, I'm not good as an actor," Gardel confessed shortly after shooting was finished.  "If I am with a viola I'll film again… otherwise, I'll never do it again."
 

Gardel's most brilliant film career was accomplished with the movies filmed in France and the US.  His marvelous voice and unique way of speaking and phrasing tango lyrics concealed his failings as an actor.  The emotional richness of his voice was always key. Between 1930 and 1932 Carlos Gardel starred in ten short films.  This was his first experience in talking pictures with the system MovieTone, a process distributed by the Fox corporation. "Mano a mano", "Yira yira", "El carretero", "Leguisamo solo" and "Añoranzas" were some of the titles that Gardel starred in, and, which, without his intention, made him a pioneer of Argentine short cinematography.  In 1931 he filmed "Luces de Buenos Aires", the first production with Paramount, and at the end of 1932 he arrived in New York, hired to film movies distributed by Paramount and produced by two companies created especially for this undertaking: Exito Corporation and Exito Productions.

 These movies had great repercussions with the Spanish-speaking residents in the US; the movies were neither dubbed nor translated into English.  Artistically, in terms of interpretive singing, Gardel had reached maturity.  This is the time when with admirable gravity he sings his own songs, and the time of resigned anguish as in the tangos "Volver", "Sus ojos se cerraron", "Arrabal amargo" or "Cuesta abajo".
 

GAMBLING  Although Gardel was an avid fan of horse racing he would only bet on the horses he owned.  The singer even recognized to the press:  "My only vice is gambling, especially horses, and once in a while I delve into the mysteries of the green gambling table.  I am convinced, however, that this does not affect either my physical or mental capacity to develop in the best possible conditions my study in the difficult profession of vocal interpretation."  The night before the fatal accident, the singer stayed playing roulette.  It was because of the late night gambling that he woke up late the next day and missed the plane that he and his musicians were supposed to take at eight in the morning.  The change of flight schedule destined him to get into the plane of the tragedy.

GARDEL'S HOUSE AND HIS GAMBLING FRIENDS  Carlos Gardel and his mother loved the suburban house on Jean Jaurés Street (close to the Abasto Market) where his mother used to workironing  clothes. Once Gardel acquired some wealth he tried to buy the house for his mother. Since he was often on tour, he wired the money to one of his  friends to buy the house.  His "friend" wrote him back: "…please forgive me, brother, but I had a sure thing, and I had to bet the money." Gardel  loved his friends more than he wanted the house, so he sent the money again to another friend. And the same story happened again, and again, and again! The fifth time he wired the money, it was a friend who could be trusted, who did end up in fact buying the beloved house!

THE ACCIDENT

 Gardel said goodbye to this world on June 24, 1935, in a tragic plane crash that occurred at the Olaya Herrera Airport in the city of Medellín, Colombia.  The accident was caused by the crash of the three-motor plane F-31 Ford from SACO in which Gardel was flying, and another similar plane -the Manizales- in the landing strip.  Fifteen passengers from the two planes died.  Among them were two of Gardel's guitarists, Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri and Ángel Domingo Riverol, and the lyricist of his songs, Alfredo Le Pera.

 Gardel fans, all over the world, continue to theorize and speculate about different causes for the accident.  The technical commission investigating the accident originated the explanation most heavily circulated and the most agreed upon.  The commission concluded that the accident was due to an unexpected air pressure and deficiencies in the runway.  Other probable theories:
• The pilot, Samper Mendoza, lost control of the machine upon being fired at by Gardel after a discussion about a beautiful and mysterious woman they were both disputing.
• The plane was carrying more weight than that allowed.
• The pilot was completely drunk.
• The pilot received a shot fired by Le Pera, which was destined for Gardel (after an argument over money), shot which Gardel managed to avoid. (Several versions say the fight in the plane did take place. Gardel and Le Pera never got along, although they both needed each other.  Some people say they went on the plane angry with each other.  The presence of a weapon can be justified given the difficult times, when many people, including Gardel, always carried a gun).

 The investigative commission, however, discarded every one of these theories.

 Two days before dying, Gardel said, as he was living the city of Bogota: "I leave Bogota with the impression that I am staying in your hearts.  I don't know if I'll come back… Man proposes and God decides."  He was never more right. It is true: he never went back.  What is even more true is that his voice, his image, his smile have remained instilled and will continue living forever in the hearts of all of us.
 

BELATED HOMAGE  The city of Buenos Aires 65 years after Gardel's death erected a long-overdue monument in his honor.  The monument is across the old "Mercado  del Abasto", which is now a modern shopping center.  The delay is difficult to explain since Carlos Gardel, the most important Argentine singer, has  had statues in stone or bronze built in his homage in almost all Latin American countries, even those he did not visit.