Medellín

A tango kept in memory

On 24 June 1935, Carlos Gardel died in a plane collision at Medellín’s Olaya Herrera airport. The singer was touring Latin America. Tango records and radio had already found listeners in Colombia; his death gave Medellín a lasting place in the story of the singer and his music.

Decades later, the Argentine Leonardo Nieto Jardón arrived in the city and acquired Salón Versalles. In the Manrique neighbourhood he went on to establish Casa Gardeliana, opened in 1972. The museum describes its early years as a popular nightspot with tango performances, before its role as a place of memory.

The city’s heritage site describes the record collection at Salón Málaga, a bar in the centre associated with tango and older recordings. A listener can encounter Gardel through recordings such as “Volver”, written with Alfredo Le Pera: the singer imagines returning to a place after years away.