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.
The tango singer
• 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 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.”