Tango and Medellín
Chapter 1 of 3 · 1935–1959
24 June 1935
Gardel dies at Olaya Herrera airport and Medellín makes the tango its own.
Guayaquil · El Poblado
On 24 June 1935 Carlos Gardel, with Alfredo Le Pera, his guitarist Guillermo Barbieri and his secretary Corpas Moreno, died when two aircraft collided on take-off at Medellín's Olaya Herrera airport.1
With Gardel's death, Medellín developed a strong sense of possession and made this Río de la Plata genre its own.2 The city is called the "Colombian capital of tango" because the "King of Tango" died there; since then tango has been part of Medellín's popular soul.3
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