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Carlos Gardel arrived in Buenos Aires at the age of two. As a
young man he became known in the clubs and cafés of the
barrios (districts) in Buenos Aires, establishing a famous folk
singing duo with José Razzano. But it was in the 1920s,
when he began to specialise in tango singing, that he rose to
extraordinary fame.
Known as El Zorzal Criollo, 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 vulgar music and dance
of Buenos Aires' tenements). Gardel made the music his own by
inventing the tango-song, and was an instant popular hit in Latin
American countries. The elite overcame their aversion to the tango's
humble origins and open sensuality only when the man and his music
were already widely accepted in New York and Paris. Radio performances
and a film career extended this appeal.
Gardel's sky-rocketing career was cut short in 1935, when he lost
his life in a plane crash in Colombia. An orgy of grief swept
from New York to Puerto Rico, and a woman in Havana suicided.
Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's
body made the journey to its final resting place in a Buenos Aires
cemetery, travelling via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro.
Instantly immortal and preserved forever young, his enduring fame
is measured by the oft-heard Argentine expression 'Gardel sings
better every day'. Sixty years after his death, a devoted following
keeps the legend blazing, playing Gardel's music daily, placing
a lit cigarette in the hand of the life-sized statue which graces
his tomb and keeping his few films in circulation.
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