Artistic and Literature in Spanish America

The tango singer

Dra. Patricia Nigro

The tango singer

• It was published in 2004.

• Martínez’ writing is of clear elegance

and his novels are created to be

read immediately as a whole. One

can leave them till they finish.

• As a journalist, his prose is precise

and transparent.

• Martínez chose Buenos Aires because Liz Calder, editor of

Bloomsbury Publishers, wanted to do a series of books about big

cities.

• Martínez had a dream of a meeting with Jean Franco, a real and

famous critic, where she told her to search for a mytical tango

singer in Buenos Aires.

• That was the idea to put together some short stories he had

already written and turn them into a novel.

The tango singer

The tango singer

• The terrible economic crisis Argentina

suffered in 2001 is the context for

Bruno Cadogan’s story, a young

student from USA who comes to

Buenos Aires, because of Jean Franco’

s advice to listen to Julio Martel, a

tango singer.

• He is researching Borges’ essays

about tango before 1910 when it was

played at brothels.

The tango singer

The tango singer

• Julio Martel is the artistic

name of Estéfano Caccace

(1945-2001).

• He is a big fan of Carlos Gardel

and he never wanted to record

his own voice.

• He is perhaps better than

Gardel’s but nobody can ever

say this in a loud voice.

The tango singer

The tango singer

The tango singer

The tango singer

• The assumed name of the tango singer

comes from Julián Martel, author of a

novel about the 1890 economic crisis

which title was La Bolsa (The stock

market). His real name was José María

Miró and died in 1896.

The tango singer

– The novel is also inspired by Borges’

tale “The aleph”.

– So, it is an allegory of something

deeper than what he is writing.

– He rebuilds the past and describes it

as if it were the present moment.

– Time is an issue that worries him the

same way as it worried Borges.

The tango singer

• “I just want to remember

what I’ve never seen.” (Julio

Martel)

• That’s why Martel sings in

different parts of the city,

connected with criminal

crimes.

• We shall find in the novel the

story of the house in Street

Garay where the aleph was

placed in Borges’ tale.

The tango singer

• Other stories are: Felicitas Alcántara’ s murder in 1899 and its

connection with the Wateworks Palace (1894).

The tango singer

• Another one is the Violeta Miller’s in 1914 and her nurse

Catalina Godel, killed in Mataderos in 1978, by the

military goverment.

The tango singer

• The third one is that of the

first kidnaping of General

Pedro Eugenio Aramburu in

1970 (when he was killed

by the Montoneros guerrilla

group) and then in 1974

when his corpse was stolen

from Recoleta cemetery to

demand the return of Evita

Perón’s body to Argentina.

The tango singer

• The story of the corpse

kidnaping is told by

Fermín Mario Andrade,

(Mocho), the only friend

Julio Martel had from his

childhood.

• Andrade was one of the

kidnappers and later he

became a missing

person.

The tango singer

• Buenos Aires is the soul of

his novel.

• Her symbol is a labyrinth as

Borges would like it.

• One can make a map of the

different places and cafés

Martínez refers to with

complete precision.

• The best example is Parque

Chas.

The tango singer

• Other places are Parque

Lezama where we know

about the romance of Borges

with Estela Canto.

• Hospital Fernández: the

place where Julio Martel dies.

• Café La Paz: there, Bruno

meets with Alcira Villar.

The tango singer

• Fuerte Apache: is an awful village near the city border, full of criminals, drug dealers, arms sellers and very poor people living in the worst conditions.

• Even policemen are afraid to go into it.

• Sesostris Bonorino, the librarian who saw the aleph and wanted to write the National Encyclopedia, died there.

The tango singer

• Martínez’ novel refers to many different tango composers and singers;

Gardel, Le Pera, Mores, Contursi, Goyeneche, Castillo, Salgán, Troilo.

• He also mentions places where tango is sung, played or danced such

as La Viruta, La Estrella, El Catedral. (They are called “milongas”.)

The tango singer

• “El bulín de la calle Ayacucho” (Our

little room on Ayacuho),

• “Mano a mano” (Now we’re even),

• “Tomo y obligo” (I drink and I

forced you to),

• “En esta tarde gris” (In this grey

afternoon),

• “La casita de mis viejos”, (My

parents’ little house),

• “Volver” (Return),

• “La morocha” (The brunette),

• “Caminito” (Little road)...

The tango singer

• El matadero (The slaughterhouse), Esteban Echeverría, 1848.

Adán BuenosAyres, Leopoldo Marechal, 1948. La invención de

Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares, 1940.

The tango singer

• Hopscotch, Julio Cortázar, 1966, One hundred years of solitude,

Gabriel García Márquez, 1967. A dolls’ house, Henrik Ibsen, 1879.

The tango singer

• On heros and tombs, Ernesto Sábato, 1961. Martín Fierro, José

Hernández, 1872/1879. Different poems from Fernando Pessoa

(portuguese writer, died in 1935)

The tango singer

• Chapter 1: September 2001 (1st) (“The aleph”)

• Chapter 2: October 2001 (The danish tourist’ s adventure and Felicitas

Alcántara’s murder)

• Chapter 3: November 2001 (Violeta Miller’s story in 1914)

• Chapter 4: End of Violeta Miller’ life and Catalina Godel’s story.

DECEMBER 2001

• Chapter 5: December 2001 (General Aramburu’s story)

• Chapter 6: December 2001 (Martel’s death) End of January 2002

The tango singer

• Some of the facts told of Argentina history:

– 2001 economic crisis,

– the “tragic week” in 1919,

– the prison in Las Heras Avenue and the prod,

– the story of the Waterhouse Palace,

– the military coup of 1976,

– the murder of Comissioner Ramón Falcón,

– the robbery of Evita Perón’s body,

– different neigbourhoods stories: Mataderos, Parque Chas, Fuerte Apache.

– The National Library: México 564 and Agüero 2502.

The tango singer

The tango singer

• Influence of Borges’ style: symbol, mirror, memory, trivial, or, I saw, solitary, monstrous, endless, evasive, illusory...

• Borges’ ideas: Buenos Aires neighbourhoods, two foundations of the city, chess, labyrinths, the aleph, premonition, different versions of the same story, fiction and non fiction...

• Borges’ works: Evaristo Carriego, The book of sand, different poems...

• Borges’ life: his homes, the ex National Library, Fundación Internacional Jorge Luis Borges...

The tango singer

• “Buenos Aires is the worse and

the best of la Argentina”, says

Martínez in an interview.

• “Buenos Aires, cuando lejos

me vi...”, from the first

argentinian sound movie

Tango (1933): “Buenos Aires,

when I’m far away.”