Carlos Gardel

(b ?Toulouse, Dec 1890; d Medellín, 24 June 1935). Argentine composer and tango singer. Although Gardel's origins have been widely debated, he was probably born in Toulouse in 1890; in 1893 he and his mother emigrated to Buenos Aires.

Together with the Uruguayan singer José Razzano, he formed a duo in 1911, which lasted until 1925. About 1917 Gardel performed and recorded Samuel Castriota's popular tango tune Lita, under the title Mi noche triste (to words by Pascual Contursi). By the early 1920s he was firmly established as Argentina's leading tango singer, and several successful European tours followed. He was killed in a plane crash in 1935.

Gardel's chief contribution was to popularize the sung tango, although both his career and songs were criticized by some as lacking a critical, political thrust. In addition to recording almost 900 songs, he appeared in several classic films; his best-known compositions include El día que me quieras, Mi Buenos Aires querido, Por una cabeza, Volver, Silencio and Cuesta abajo. Gardel's impact was profound: a product of the arrabal (districts) who came to symbolize the fulfilment of the dreams of the Argentine porteño (from the port, i.e. Buenos Aires), he remains a crucial figure, ‘the tango made flesh’ as described by the singer Libertad Lamarque.