Gardel´s Identikit. Berta and Carlos Gardés, the same face

he following only has importance as a curiosity. Since the place where Gardel was born ought not to admit controversies.

The conjecture, after many years of the singer's death, released by a witty Uruguayan journalist, had its nucleus of followers that, without hurry, were building a story, really interesting but only as a fiction, and which can easily be denied, since there is no existing documentation as an evidence that can insinuate a slip of reality to it.

In a few words, this idea is based on not considering the French origin of the true son of Doña Berta, Charles Romuald Gardés, at stake but on completely discarding the possibility that the latter would have been the singer. According to this version, the true Zorzal would be Uruguayan, the illegitimate son of a relation between a landholder in Tacuarembó and a girl of the local society. With the purpose of hiding this embarrassing situation, the child is given in adoption to Berta Gardés, who was temporally working in Uruguay. She took him to Buenos Aires and brought him up as her own. What was never cleared up is what happened to her French son.



If raising a child is not easy, much more complicated, and in this case very strange and anti-natural, is to hide and get rid of one’s own to protect somebody else’s.

Anyway, opinions of journalists expert on the issue, from the other bank of the river, do not either believe in the story.

Gardel always is an issue for something else, and always a new evidence or a new idea about his life is found.

The police Inspector (retired), University expert Raúl Osvaldo Torre, author of this work, is a specialist in research and analysis of identikits with many years in the profession.



On one occasion, he had the idea of making a study taking an artistic photo of Gardel and another —of which was necessary to make a bigger copy—, of his mother Mrs. Berta. The purpose was to check the coincidences between both faces.

On both pictures, first, a horizontal cut was made to carry out a montage combining the upper part of Gardel’s photography with the bottom of his mother’s photo.

The second image with a slanting cut, almost vertical, mixing the two photos, where Gardel is at the left and Mrs. Berta, at the right.

It turns out evident that a high degree of similitude exists.

Coincidence? It’s possible. But the coincidences are outstanding and mean one more reason to not doubt that Carlos was Berta’s son.

Some people may have wondered why a DNA test has not been made. But, is the case so important so as to go to those extremes? What is really important, beyond any kind of speculation, is that Gardel transcends because of his wonderful voice.

But if, in spite of all this, the stubborn ones keep on their point of view, the one who writes this has a definitive answer: Gardel was Argentinian.