About the origin of Carlos Gardel

udicious historians assure that Homer, not the Homero from Añatuya but the Greek one, entered this world through Chios. But in ancient times the cities that argued for the honor of having been his birthplace were eight. As for Gardel, we only knew two, and that was enough to unleash sea waves of ink, including lectures, public discussions, congresses, seminars and symposiums.

Having the Delphic Oracle been consulted (which, otherwise, is the only thing that was not done), the Pythia, surely, with the customary ambiguity of her answers would have replied that “Carlos Gardel was born in a city whose name begins with T”. And she would not have been mistaken.

About this subject, a research as serious as enlightening we find in the book “Carlos Gardel - sus antecedentes franceses” (His French record), by Juan Carlos Esteban, Monique Ruffié de Saint-Blancat and Georges Galopa (Editorial Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 2006, 253 pages). A work done with historic rigor, careful methodology and a precise documentation that, without need or aim for defending any thesis, contributes to clear up doubts and to improve the Carlos Gardel’s bio-bibliographical heritage.

Acknowledged and, up to now, unpublished documents, with documental evidences of irreproachable origin, is what we find in this book. On its pages, the objectivity, the seriousness in the approach and the clarity of expression are a constant.

Juan Carlos Esteban, Monique Ruffié de Saint-Blancat and Georges Galopa, have only tried to show the truth about the origin of our beloved Zorzal.

The cold, not passionate and simple documents that are shown in this book are the ones that speak: Charles Romuald Gardes, the future Carlos Gardel, was born on December 11, 1890 at the La Grave hospital of the city whose name begins with “T”.