In the footsteps of Carlos Gardel in Toulouse: a visit to be intoxicated by the prince of tango

Wednesday December 11, 1890, Charles Romuald Gardès, better known as Carlos Gardel, was born in Toulouse, at the Grave Hospital. This is precisely the day that Solange Bazely, specialist in Argentine culture, chose to organize her next visit “In the footsteps of Carlos Gardel in Toulouse”.

His walk will begin on Boulevard Lascrosses, Compans-Caffarelli district, in front of the bronze statue of Carlos Gardel, who invites passers-by to dance with him. It will continue in the garden where there is another stele. From there, the group will go to 4 rue du Canon d’Arcole, where Carlos Gardel spent his first two years, alongside his mother Berthe Gardès, before they flew to Argentina. “We will spend 30 minutes in this quite moving and intimate place,” warns the guide. She will continue her stroll towards Arnaud Bernard and Saint-Sernin, to finish under the arcades of the Capitole.

For two hours, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., this Wednesday, December 11, Solange Bazely plans to visit the places in Toulouse where the presence of singer and composer Carlos Gardel has left its mark.

Inexhaustible on the artist’s life, the guide will tell anecdotes, read poems, documents… and listen to the voice of Carlos Gardel “who sings better every day!” “The link with Toulouse is a pretext to talk about his career because he left very young. The important thing for his life is not here,” she recalls.

A song and a restaurant to finish

Solange Bazely created this visit in September 2019, “a few months after the inauguration of this statue created by Sébastien Langloÿs, which is the city’s last testimony to Carlos Gardel”, specifies the guide. Today, it only offers it five times a year. “There will be other visits in March, in May, on June 24 for the anniversary of his death and for Heritage Days in September,” explains this enthusiast of Argentine culture for more than 30 years.

For Solange, this singer, who died at the age of 44 in a plane crash in 1935, remains “an exciting character, who loved new technologies. He experienced the beginnings of radio and recordings. He benefited greatly from talking cinema “It’s thanks to this that he was known all over the world, in addition to this vocal gift,” she adds.

The visit ends with the song “Volver” sung on the Place du Capitole. “For those who wish, we can meet at the new Argentinian restaurant Chez Gardel, at 54 rue Pharaon, just to stay in the atmosphere,” concludes Solange Bazely.