Mi Buenos Aires Querido (1934)

Carlos Gardel (1887-1935) is revered as one of the greatest tango singers of all time. For many, Gardel embodies the soul of the tango style that sprang from the barrios of Buenos Aires and Montevideo at the end of the 19th century.

Gardel's life is shrouded in mystery. Although Buenos Aires was his home from childhood, his place of birth is in doubt (most biographers today believe he was born in either Uruguay, or, more likely, Toulouse in France). He made hundreds of recordings of tango songs during Argentina's "golden age" of prosperity in the 1930's, when it was one of the world's richest countries.

When Gardel died in a plane crash over Colombia in 1935, at the height of his career, millions of his fans went into mourning. Today, a popular saying in Latin America, claims that "Gardel sings better every day."

Gardel, likely born in France, came to symbolize the longing and sentiments that characterized the European immigrants' life in Argentina.

Notes:
Some words in this tango are difficult to translate.
Pebeta is a lunfardo word which means something like "babe".
Buenos Aires is often called "la ciudad porteña" or the "port city", and its people are known as "porteños".
The "arrabal" refers to the working-class suburbs of Buenos Aires, on the frontier between the city and the pampas, where tango was probably born.
A bandoneón is that funny-sounding accordion instrument that you hear when tango is played