Its maximum representative in the history of tango is Carlos Gardel.
Gardel was a singer, composer and film actor. He was the initiator and highest exponent of the tango song.
There is no unanimity about the place and date of his birth, it could have been in Tacuarembó (Uruguay) or in Toulouse (France), on December 11 between 1887 and 1890. He lived his childhood in Buenos Aires and became an Argentine national in 1923. He died on June 24, 1935 in Medellín, Colombia, in a plane crash.
Worldwide, he was one of the most important interpreters of popular music in the first half of the 20th century, due to the quality of his voice, the number of records sold (as a singer and a composer), for his numerous films related to tango and its global impact.
The first singer who sang a tango for the first time was Carlos Gardel in 1917. That first tango sung and recorded “Mi noche triste”.
The interpretation of «Mi noche triste» by Gardel is considered the date of birth of the tango song.
The success of the new style of tango song was not immediate. “My sad night”, with its lunfarda lyrics and its theme about the man from the town abandoned by his wife, was not received enthusiastically by the public.
On the other hand, the “pure” singers frowned on that street language and that tasteless sensuality.
The following year (1918) the farce (comic theater piece) Los dientes del perro , included a scene in which the actress Manolita Poli sang “My sad night”. The number caused a sensation and was decisive for Gardel’s version, released on record that year, to be a great success.
Since then the sainete and the tango will establish a close link, promoting each other.
That year Gardel recorded another tango, “A fuego lento”, and little by little he built a repertoire made up mainly of tangos.
Gardel’s voice and way of singing also evolved as he became a tango singer.
Gardel made 957 recordings, covering 792 different topics. 229
He not only recorded tangos; he also folk music, milongas, zambas, rancheras, tunes, styles, etc. (thirty genera in total). He recorded some foxtrots, a tango in Spanish and English, and also some traditional songs in French and Italian and even a tango in Guarani.
His compositions are Volver and Por una cabeza .
In 2003 Gardel’s voice was recorded by Unesco in the Memory of the World program, dedicated to the preservation of documents belonging to the historical heritage of the peoples of the world.
