Sunday, September 6, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
/ARTS WEEKLY/LITERATURE-ARGENTINA: Gardel’s Life, Meticulously Researched
Marcela Valente
- After two decades of research and interviews based on 30,000 sources, ‘Carlos Gardel. La Biografía’ (Carlos Gardel: The Biography) has finally come out in Argentina – a meticulously researched book that also promises to heat up the endless controversy over several aspects of Gardel’s life.
The nearly 1,000-page book, which offers 250 revealing photos of the life and work of the legendary tango singer, delves into Gardel’s political activism, his struggle with his weight, his acting career and the rejection he suffered at the hands of other artists in Buenos Aires who were envious of his extraordinary success.
The biography, released in December, also discusses the singer’s relationship with his mother, his many girlfriends, and his constant efforts to improve his appearance, image and voice.
In addition, the authors – Osvaldo Barsky and his son Julián – touch on private matters, explaining why there have been rumours that he was gay (although he wasn’t, they report) and offering clues indicating that he was a passionate lover despite his obsession with his work and his career, that kept him away from forming a family.
‘’The essence of the myths surrounding Gardel is that they are based on a total lack of research,” Osvaldo Barsky told IPS, adding that this vacuum was filled by fantasies of all kinds regarding the identity of the artist who was born in France in 1890 and died in a plane crash in Colombia in 1937.
Barsky is an economist who specialises in rural affairs and is a full-time researcher with the National Council on Scientific and Technical Research. But he is also a tango lover.
His son and co-author is a musician.
The book, which is being put out by the Santillana publishing house, consists of an introduction and nine sections, each of which is made up of several chapters on Gardel’s life arranged in chronological order.
After each section, there is a summary of his evolution as an artist, and photos illustrating that specific period of his life.
At the end, there are three appendices.
The publishers describe the book as the definitive biography of Gardel, and say there has never been a work of this scope, based on such in-depth research, which sheds light on many obscure aspects of the singer’s life.
According to Barsky, the best biography of Gardel, up to now, was ‘The Life, the Music and Times of Carlos Gardel’, written in 1986 by British historian Simon Collier, who died in 2003. However, the Argentine writer said it was more a summary of the singer’s life based on other accounts than a meticulous research project.
The central feature of this new book is not testimony from people who lived in that era – few of whom are still alive – but documents that were painstakingly tracked down, and which provide a glimpse into previously unexplored aspects of the tango legend’s life.
The book was originally 2,000 pages long, because it also contained the results of parallel research into related subjects like the ‘’varieté” circus or the Abasto neighbourhood in Buenos Aires where Gardel lived.
But when the publishers agreed to work with Barsky five years ago, the manuscript was cut to 943 pages.
The number of photos also shrunk, from 2,200 to 250. Some previously unpublished photos show Gardel overweight.
Among the most revealing aspects of the book, said Barsky, are the parts that deal with the artist’s constant efforts to keep in shape and improve his image. To do so, he practised Swedish calisthenics on a daily basis, and went on all kinds of diets to lose weight (from a peak of 120 kilogrammes).
He used platform shoes to conceal the fact that he was just 1.60 metres tall, and wore a girdle to hold his stomach in. He also underwent nose surgery, which was not common back then, and on his trips to Paris he had extensive dental work done.
In addition, Gardel worked continuously to improve and preserve his voice.
He was also quite obsessive about his career, knew exactly what he wanted, and carefully calculated the moment to jump into acting in films. He marketed himself as a product, in Argentina as well as in countries like France and the United States.
Gardel himself carried out the negotiations that ended in a contract with Paramount Pictures in the United States.
The authors reveal that Gardel carried around a scrapbook that he labelled ‘’tales from my artistic tours” in which he glued clippings and critiques of his concerts in each town, city or country that he visited in lengthy, gruelling tours, during which he often rehearsed for the next day after the end of a show.
Barsky said one chapter that will trigger controversy talks about the rejection of Gardel by many in the world of show business in Buenos Aires. According to the authors, this was because so many people hated him for his extraordinary success and popularity.
Another chapter reveals an unknown facet of the artist: that he was actively involved in the Conservative Party, which governed Argentina in the early 20th century through elections that were widely questioned. (The party no longer exists).
Barsky said the ‘’mistaken” versions about Gardel’s nationality – that he refers to as ‘’the grotesque Uruguayan legend” – are dealt with in an appendix that merely shows the origins of the ‘’myth” that he was born in that country, which borders Argentina.
According to the publishers, the number of documents proving Gardel’s ‘’true origins” was so overwhelming that it was not worth dwelling on rumours that he was born in the central Uruguayan department (province) of Tacuarembó.
Barsky said he had no doubt that Gardel was born in the southern French city of Toulouse, and that his mother was Berta Gardés, a Frenchwoman. The authors explain why Gardel took out a Uruguayan identity document.
The book also rules out versions that Gardel spent time in prison in southern Argentina, in what is today the province of Tierra del Fuego. ‘’These are inventions, just myths that are not grounded in reality,” said Barsky.
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