Libertad Lamarque

Libertad Lamarque was born on 24 November 1908 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina.^[1][2] Her given name reflected the fact that her anarchist father was imprisoned at the time of her birth.^[4] The family later moved to Buenos Aires, where she began performing professionally in the mid-1920s.^[1][2] In 1926 she appeared in the sainete La muchacha de Montmartre by José Saldías at the Teatro Nacional, singing “Tanita de la proa” dressed as a sailor alongside Olinda Bozán; the management then offered her “fin de fiesta” numbers including “Mocosita,” “Tatuaje,” “Pato,” “La cumparsita,” “Langosta,” and “El ciruja.”^[1] Within two months she debuted on Radio Prieto and was contracted by the Victor label at 150 pesos per disc, soon raised to 300, with an obligation to record at least one disc a month.^[1]

Her first record, cut on 26 September 1926, contained the estilo “Gaucho sol” and the tonada “Chilenito.”^[1] Recordings continued almost without interruption except for a gap between 1934 and 1936; in Argentina she cut roughly 241 sides, and additional sessions in Mexico, Cuba, and Spain brought the total above 400, a figure unmatched by any other Argentine female singer of her generation.^[1][2] She participated in a contest of female singers at a festival in the Teatro Colón, singing “La cumparsita” and “Taconeando,” and was awarded first prize and the title “Reina del Tango”; sources place the event variously in 1930, 1931, or 1932.^[1][2][5] By the early 1930s she was the leading female figure in tango.^[1]

Lamarque’s film career began with the silent (or semi-sound) Adiós, Argentina (filmed 1929, released 1930), in which she sang “Caminito.”^[1][2] In 1933 she was part of the cast of ¡Tango!, the first Argentine sound feature, alongside Tita Merello and others.^[1][2] She went on to make more than twenty films in Argentina, including El alma del bandoneón, Ayúdame a vivir (1936), Besos brujos, La ley que olvidaron, Madreselva, Puerta cerrada, and La cabalgata del circo (1945).^[1][2] During the shooting of the last of these she had a public disagreement with the supporting actress Eva Duarte; the incident, combined with Duarte’s rising political connections, created difficulties that led Lamarque to leave for Mexico in 1946–1947.^[1][2][3][6] In Mexico she debuted in Gran Casino (1947), directed by Luis Buñuel, and ultimately appeared in more than forty Mexican films, becoming known throughout Latin America as “La Novia de América” and “La reina de la lágrima.”^[1][2][3] She returned to Argentina for work after 1955, when Perón was no longer in power, and continued in film, television, and recording until late in life.^[1][2]

Her voice was a light soprano with a distinctive high timbre well suited to the melodic tangos of composers such as Enrique Santos Discépolo.^[2][4] She recorded across genres—tango, milonga, ranchera, bolero—and made duets with Pedro Vargas, Miguel Aceves Mejía, and, on one occasion, her daughter Mirtha.^[1] She received the Konex Platinum Award for Best Tango Singer in 1985 and other honors in later decades.^[2] Lamarque died on 12 December 2000 in Mexico City.^[2][4] Her career spanned more than seven decades and helped define both the female voice of tango and the melodramatic heroine of Latin American cinema.^[1][2]

Beginnings in Rosario and Buenos Aires

Born in Rosario in 1908, Lamarque moved to Buenos Aires and made her professional theater debut in 1926 in La muchacha de Montmartre.^[1][2] Immediate radio and Victor contracts followed her first recordings that September.^[1]

Queen of Tango and Argentine cinema

A Teatro Colón contest performance of “La cumparsita” and “Taconeando” earned her the title Reina del Tango.^[1][2] She starred in ¡Tango! (1933) and more than twenty subsequent Argentine features before political difficulties in 1945–1946 prompted her departure.^[1][2][3]

Mexican career and legacy

In Mexico she made more than forty films beginning with Buñuel’s Gran Casino (1947) and became “La Novia de América.”^[1][2][3] Her total discography exceeds 400 sides; she died in Mexico City in 2000.^[1][2]