From "El Portal del Tango" we pay homage to a big singer woman.

Since her artistic birth, which took place in the first years of the 30's, Nelly Omar represents one of the most genuine statements of the national singing.That is: a synthesis of domestic or unsheltered, and the tango, of urban and/or suburban placement. Esthetic expression of particular beauty that introduces itself in an universal art common to all the races of the world. Popular music involves popular feelings its its lyrics and its music and it has the power of reflecting simple but essential values, where fugacity and eternity blends. From that far debut, when she was just a girl, it has passed more than 65 years. This time encloses more than an artistic career but a vital passage of a singer, a heroine (like Edith Piaff to the French people or Amalia Rodriguez to the Portuguese people) capable of reaching the myth category. Category  which resumes the ideal thing  the real, the allegorical and the divine, Nelly Omar´s art, although she started singing in "The Big City" (Buenos Aires) it was not erosioned by "Arte Culto". Although she strongly relates to Homero Manzi´s  poetry, she does not disdain a more typical kind of music: we can find songs like "Paciencia" (Patience); "Misterio" (Mistery); "Tu vuelta" (Your return); "Chumbale a los perros" (Bark to the dogs); "Alma en pena" (Soul in sorrow) (A Fluri and M. Paiva's song) and others songs that represent a "gauchesca" tradition. She was the seventh daughter among ten brothers and sisters. She was the daughter of a genoese small farmer who had a good economic situation. She was born on September 10th, in Jose Bonifacio, Buenos Aires. She spent her childhood running around in  the country. At home she used to listen to Italian music, and during that time of her life, her mother, Salustina Pasos, was always with her. In her house she met Carlos Gardel, who was invited by her father on an occasion when  he was touring  with Rozzano.
After his father death and because of  the bad arrangements their  lawyers had made, her family loses everything when she was only 11, so her mother decided to move to Buenos Aires. In the city, the echonomic situation is very hard, and then, at the age of 14 had to work in a socks factory. " I used to sing while doing my job , because I was always singing... My mother told me that I even sang to myself in the craddle; and when I was at school too. I always sing when I am happy and I help myself singing, in the sad moments...". When she was in her twenties she used to listen to "Cenizas del Fogon" (Ashes from the fireside) Radio Splendid.
She asked her mother if she could go to work in that radio show. Her mother said that she could do it only if one of her brothers or sisters was going too . She auditioned for the show and that same night made her debut in "Ashes". Immidiately after that, the directors invited her to be a part of another show which was listened by a lot of people, whose main figure was Enrique Muiño. Two years later, in 1934, Nelly Omar had a great
success and she started a historical duo with her sister Nilda: "Las hermanas Omar" (The Omar sisters). They were very popular. They sang tangos, vals and popular songs, and their talent is remembered to be superlative. ¨Nelly did the first voice and Nilda the second¨, said Visconti. Unfortunately there is not any recording left of this duo, which disappeared in 1936. Nelly continued her career on her own, and she was very successful. In 1946 she was convoked by Francisco Canaro to record for Odeon company. They did ten songs (between 1946 and 1947), all of them worth of being remembered. In 1937 she was at the top of the inquiry done by the magazine "Caras y Caretas" among the singers and at that time there were many and they were all very good. The audience knew her as "La Gardel con faldas" (The Gardel in skirt). In 1944 she recorded two albums for the Odeon Company but they were not sold, we do not know the reason, but they still remain unpublished . In 1955 Juan Domingo Perón was pulled down by the military goverment and a long silent period for Nelly started. Radio stations did not play her music, and she could not perform in any theatre. The prohibition was because she had made two recordings for RCA to her friend Eva Peron; she travelled to Montevideo and later to Venezuela. Finally she decided to retire and live the exile indoors. In 1969 she returned to scene called by Reynaldo Yiso to make an album for Magenta company. Nelly says: ..."When I listened to the album I cried...I cried a lot. These days I did not have enough food and the little food that I had I shared it with my dog "Tripantru"...". Some time later, Jose Canet, a famous guitar player called her to work in "El rincon de los artistas" (The artists corner), a small bar  which was the shelter of the little tango you could listen to in Buenos Aires. In that place the second part of her career staaaarted: she began wearing a ¨poncho¨ to cover her old clothes; the ¨poncho¨ that is still her symbol. Nelly Omar built a myth, adding surprising chapters to her rich legend which is now a part or our  people. Today she is a living emblem which has relation with the cultural tradition of our country. She is the owner of a glory, which as Gardel´s and Corsini´s, is called to last forever because she, as our music, specially the "tango" "Are testimony of some things that although they are not here anymore, we once knew and loved. They built a happy moment, a forgotten corner, the rememberance of a far kiss..." (Hector Yanover) Maybe that is the reason why the soul of some people bristles when our lady appears on stage and says: "Wellcome everyone... I am Nelly Omar... national singer."

Thanks to "Tango XXI, Mr Hector Oviedo and Mr Rogelio Perrone for the material.