In the first part of this special, we tried to be objective when we talked about Gardel's origin, it is, may be, a bit coward from our part not to talk about the history of his origin, because not only there are two versions about it origin but also about his childhood and youth. It will be a very difficult subject and it is not our intention to create polemic. So we want to start our story from the moment when Gardel lived in the Abasto suburb, to be more precise at the 735 of Jean Jaures street. He lived in a poor house with his mother, Mrs Berta, who was his adoration till the end of her days. This young boy was known as "El francesito" or "El Morocho" and he used to sing when some of his friends played the guitar sitting on the sidewalk to make the evenings more pleasant to the "mate" before the dinner. There he started being "famous" among the people who worked there, who talked about his ability around the city and they started to talk about him in dancings, "milongas" and parties. In one of these parties he met Rozzano. They started to be friends and they formed a duo. It would be a very ssuccessful one and the trampoline for Gardel´s soloist career.. This duo started in 1913 and lasted (technically) until 1926. At the beginning it was Razzano who had the preeminence of surname and in the first record they made there was a song sang by the duo and another sang by Rozzano. A short time later the ssituation is the other way around and Gardel becames the "soloist". The first song that Gardel sang as a soloist of the duo was "Amargura" (Bitterness). The second one (a clasic) was "Mi noche triste" ("My sad night"), by Pascual Contursi. This was the beginning of his relationship with Contursi, author of another tangos Gardel sang, such as"Ivette" and "Flor de fango" ("Mud flower"). Gardel was already famous and he had prestige. It was his style which made him different from the other singers (today he still is), he had  men's admiration and  women's sighs because of his smile and his impeccable complexion. At that time (when he still was with Rozzano) he recorded 15 tangos of a total of 117. The followings 5 year marked his consolidation as an international tango singer, he recorded a lot, and he travelled around the country, he always went to Montevideo to performed and he also worked in Europe. He even was known in America because of his records. Moreover, he worked in short-films singing "Yira, yira", "Viejo smoking"("Old smoking") and "Mano a mano"("On equal terms"). We have to mention that cinematography industry was growing and Gardel was a very famous artist so he started an acting career which (with all due respect) was not very good, but that does not matter because we can see him very elegant and singing very well. The films that he appeared on  were filmed in other countries, mainly in France and they were shown in different cinemas of Buenos Aires and a lot of people went to see them. But he still had another challenge, EEUU. Gardel went to New York in December, 1933 in order to make his debut in NBC with a very good repercussion, so the directors decided to take him to the "big screen". In May 1934 he filmed "Cuesta abajo" ("Down the road") where Gardel acted togethr with Mona Maris and he sang 5 songs, one of them was"Mi Buenos Aires querido"("My dear Buenos Aires") which was a synonymous of "El Morocho". His second film in EEUU was "El tango en Brodway" ("Tango in Broadway") in which  he had to sing four songs, it was first shown in March12th, 1935. In August, 1934 Gardel signed  the contract for two more films "El dia que me quieras" ("The day that you love me"), and "Tango Bar". The first one started to be filmed in January 1935.  John Reinhardt was the director and the actress was Rosita Moreno. In the film he sang "Volver"("To come back"), "Sus ojos se cerraron" ("Her eyes closed") and "El dia que me quieras" ("The day that you love me"). Immediately later he started to film "Tango bar" with the same cast and the same director. In this film he registered the songs "Por una cabeza", "Los ojos de mi moza", "Lejana tierra mia" and "Arrabal amargo". During those holidays he went to France and in March 1935 he came back to America, and he performed in San Juan de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico), Caracas (Venezuela), Bogota and the fatidic Medellin, with great success.
 
Por Ricardo Espinosa Belén
Back