Wed, Mar 28, 2018
Carlos Gardel - El Zorzal Music Extra Carlos Gardel. He is the most famous figure in Tango and yet, the story and music of Argentina's national hero is barely known outside Latin America. A hundred years ago, Gardel recorded Mi Noche Triste (My Sad Night), and for listeners who are Argentinian or Uruguayan, the song can stop time. It is the first tango song sung with haunting beauty by the legendary Gardel. Before this song almost all tangos had been purely instrumental. With it Gardel captured the hope, loneliness and violence of life of the early European immigrants to Buenos Aires. He soared to fame as a singer and then as movie star. He was the archetype Latin lover who established a new audience for this intense, passionate music in Argentina, and the wider world. We hear how Gardel is still the beloved mascot of Argentina. Always pictured wearing an expensive suit, with a stylish hat - the suave singer was an immigrant who triumphed. His versatile voice and the dramatic phrasing of his lyrics made masterpieces of his three-minute tango recordings, which his fans describe as miniature operas.
Sun, Nov 18, 2018
For its part, Paramount, finally convinced of Gardel's value, now wanted to take him to Hollywood and turn him into an English language star. The stumbling-block here was Gardel's poor progress in mastering English. During his NBC broadcasts (January-May 1934) he had tried to sing in English, but soon gave up. (The one record he made in English was not released commercially until the mid-80s.) Despite this, Paramount decided to introduce Gardel to Anglophone audiences by including him in its lavish (though fairly unmemorable) film-revue The Big Broadcast of 1936, to be released in September 1935. This consisted of a very fanciful (in fact rather absurd) plot mostly carried along by George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Jack Oakie, interspersed with variety acts from, among others, Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Ray Noble and his orchestra, Amos 'n Andy, and the Vienna Boys' Choir. Most of the film was shot in Hollywood in 1935. Gardel's sketch was filmed at Astoria in mid December 1934.