Carlos Gardel embodied the very spirit of the Tango. It is generally assumed that he was born Charles Gardes at Toulouse in France on 11 December, 1890, although some sources give Tacuarembó in Uruguay as his place of birth.

He moved to Buenos Aires with his mother in 1893 and later changed the spelling of his name and became an Argentinian citizen in 1923.

When Gardel and his collaborator, Alfredo Le Pera, were killed in an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia, in 1935, millions of his fans throughout Latin America went into mourning. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body travelled via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo, Uruguay, where his mother lived. The singer's body is buried in La Chacarita Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Plasson and his orchestra here perform a selection of titles for which Gardel and his lyricist Le Pera are best remembered.