(Born in France 11 December 1890; Died: 24 June 1935)

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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 specialize in tango singing, that he rose to extraordinary fame…[Gardel was one of 17 killed when two Ford Tri Motor airplanes collided in midair over Medellin, Columbia. ~John Kremer]  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, traveling 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. ~Lizandro Llancafilo