The singer is excellent and the song selection is quite good. The voice is clean, well modulated, and serene; the artist delivers an oustanding performance effortlessly but the accompaniment is sometimes overwhelming. It is sad that the singer's name doesn't appear on the cover: only the name of Carlos Gardel is mentioned; however the singer is not the great Gardel. For long time I wondered who the singer in this CD was; five years ago, I found out from a good friend---who's father owns the original LP's--- that the singer was Paco Medina. It is difficult to find information about Francisco "Paco" Medina: he was an Honduranean singer and songwriter ("Virgen de Suyapa"; "Tegucigalpa en la noche", recorded by Libertad Lamarque). He emigrated to Mexico, where he died in 1996; it appears that he was a cultural attaché at the Honduranean Embassy. Among the old LPs, all with Medina's name on them, are "Homenaje a Carlos Gardel" Mexico ARILE HT 34 and "Tango...Viejo Tango" Mexico FONO-MEX FM 367). As usual with Orfeon releases, a lot of information is missing on the CD cover (sometimes the info is plainly wrong...). I own volumes I and III of the "Homenaje a Carlos Gardel" (in vol. III the cover lists tracks that are not in the CD!) and the double CD album "Homenaje a: Carlos Gardel" (1993, Orfeon); I contacted Orfeon Records to inquire about vol. II but they didn't know about such volume; it doesn't appear in their catalog. Some tracks in "Homenaje" reappear in an Orfeon's tango compilation ("Antologia del Tango vol. III", Orfeon CDA-13190): in the CD slip Paco Medina is listed as the singer of 7 songs. There are several Paco Medina's CDs with the Orfeon label, although none of them names him: "Homenaje a Carlos Gardel" vol. I (CDA-10101, also known as "Viva Gardel") and vol. III (CDA-10152); "Las 15 Grandes de Carlos Gardel" (CDL-16121), with similar graphic design as Homenaje vols. I and III; and the double CD album "Homenaje a: Carlos Gardel" (1993, JC2D-10015); the double CD has all the tracks I know about (30); the only track that is not in either Vol. 1 or Vol. III is the tango "Melodia de arrabal"; the "15 grandes" CD has 14 of the songs in Vol. 1 plus "Melodia de arrabal". Anyway, enjoy the beautiful voice of Paco Medina: I particularly like his excellent renditions of "La cieguita", "Mocosita" and 'Ventarron", all with a very good guitar duo; also very enjoyable are "Arrabal amargo", "Esta noche me emborracho", and "Ladrillo", with Orchestral accompaniment.

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.5 (5 ratings)
Price	$15.23
Category	Argentina

Homenaje A Carlos Gardel