Known as El Zorzal Criollo, the songbird of Buenos Aires, Carlos Gardel is a legendary figure in Argentina. The charismatic French-born singer's career coincided with the development of that intrinsically Argentine cultural icon, the tango (the vulgar music and dance of Buenos Aires' tenements). Gardel made the music his own by inventing the tango-song, and was an instant popular hit in Latin American countries. The elite overcame their aversion to the tango's humble origins and open sensuality only when the man and his music were already widely accepted in New York and Paris. Radio performances and a film career extended this appeal.

Gardel's sky-rocketing career was cut short in 1935, when he lost his life in a plane crash in Colombia. An orgy of grief swept from New York to Puerto Rico, and a woman in Havana suicided. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body made the journey to its final resting place in a Buenos Aires cemetery, travelling via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro. Instantly immortal and preserved forever young, his enduring fame is measured by the oft-heard Argentine expression 'Gardel sings better every day'. Sixty years after his death, a devoted following keeps the legend blazing, playing Gardel's music daily, placing a lit cigarette in the hand of the life-sized statue which graces his tomb and keeping his few films in circulation.