I’ve fallen in love - unfortunately the man is dead. ‘Sandro’, also known as The Argentine Elvis, died on January 4th. So yet another unobtainable man.
I’ve been watching all his films, which are being shown as a tribute to him onVolver the Argentine nostalgia channel (who other than the Argentines would have a channel dedicated to nostalgia?). I’ve bought the ‘Sandro’ tribute versions of Gente, which includes a free CD with all his hits. I stole a copy of Caras from a new trendy café in Palermo, because there were no copies left in the kioskos. It has all the old photos of him from the Caras backlog including a free full-sized poster, which I’m going to put on my fridge, even though some of the photos are beyond grasa. I’m trying to sing along in a causal way as if I know all the words to Rosa Rosa. But my favourite is Dame Fuego. The clips of him on you tube convey a delicious Sixties and Seventies out-of-dateness that is peculiar to Argentina.
Born in 1945 in a suburb of Buenos Aires, he is considered a precursor to Rock music in Spanish. He initially imitated Elvis Presley, but his musical talent shone as he created a personal style that marked his career. He started the musical group Sandro & Los de Fuego in 1961, which became hugely popular in the 1960s with songs such as Ave de Paso, Atmosfera Pesada, Quiero Llenarme de Ti, Tengo, ¿A esto le llamas amor?, Eres el Demonio Disfrazado.
I am also fascinated by the films he made – like Quiero Llenarme de Tí (I Want to Fill Myself with You - 1969) andSubí que te llevo (Hop On, I'll Give You a Ride - 1980), I find them very poignant as he seems to be trying so hard, performing his songs with so much enthusiasm and effort. But even his dedication can’t hide how incredibly bad these films are. They are a study in no structure, no storyline and bad acting and of course over-abundant sentimentality.
There was an outpouring of grief at his funeral that the Argentines know how to do so professionally. He is a national treasure who smoked himself to death, apparently he even set his alarm to 4am in order to be woken up so he could smoke a cigarette in the middle of the night.
The funeral was held on the 5th of January at the national congress, which is usually only for presidents or former presidents, the streets where lined with thousands of fans on one of the hottest days of the year. I say ‘people’, mostly women in fact (whom he affectionately referred to as ‘Las Nenas’) bearing single red roses to throw at the passing hearse. The more dedicated fans queued in the heat for hours viewing his body in an open coffin and then leaving the red roses on the steps of congress.
The women who cleans my apartment block, Violeta, a dedicated fan said she was very disappointed that she couldn’t attend the funeral, she guiltily explained to me that it wasn’t possible for her to do her 2 hour journey from the provinces, all her cleaning jobs around the city and see Sandro off. So her and her friend were planning to go the cemetery on their day off to place a red rose. She is going to bring me her treasured copy of Caras next week for us both to pore over. I didn’t tell her that I already had a stolen copy, as I couldn’t resist being guided through Caras by a professional Sandro mourner.
Everyone has something to say about Sandro. He seemed to be respected not only because of his talent but also admired as a working class hero who overcame his humble beginnings because of his talent – and also prejudice. His paternal grandfather was Russian Rom from Hungary - Roma are known in Argentina as Gitanos (Gypsies) – and as we know are discriminated against all over the world.
One thing people seem very impressed by and tell me over and over is he gave a lot of money to charity but never boasted about it. I asked Violeta how she knew this that he gave money to charity if he didn’t boast about it and she said, “Well people talk.”
My Spanish teacher said her aunt once went to see Sandro in concert and even though she was not a big fan she decided to buy a new pair of red knickers to throw at him – like most of his ‘Nenas’ used to do. She not wanting to look out of place decided to make the effort. However when she got to the theatre she had a front row position, when the moment came she took the new pants out of their package and hurled them at him, he approached her and said “I want you’re knickers, not the ones in the packet.” She didn’t comply but a lot of others did.
Apparently he wasn’t a lothario, usually having relationships with more of the girl-next-door types. Although he did have a short affair with a young and gorgeous Susana Gimenez who still regularly inhabits the television screen with her now out of focus looking botoxed face, but this being Argentina she is still a very big star. She has her own talk show ‘Hola Susana’
In 1966 my friend Loly’s two aunts Mirtha and Marta had a heated discussion whilst doing the dishes. Mirtha, according to Marta, apparently insulted Sandro saying he’s tacky and wasn’t as talented as Palito Ortega. Marta passionately defended Sandro, she being a dedicated fan, and the argument escalated. Mirtha refused to back down and finally in a Sandro-enthused moment of passion – so the family legend goes- the then teenage Marta smashed the large plate she was holding over Mirtha’s head. They are still both alive but not speaking until this day.
Passion is the word to describe everything related to Sandro, in his songs and the way people feel about him. He left school early, not finishing his education, to work with his father selling wine around the streets on their horse and cart. Violeta did an impression for me in the hallway the other day, interrupting the cleaning of the hallway to shouted “Vino, Vino.” This is apparently what they did. Sandro and his dad went around the streets on a horse and cart selling vino calling out to people in their houses. I said we don’t have that job in Britain, which surprised her.
The name Sandro was what his mother had wanted to call him when he was born but it was disallowed, as there used to be a names law in Argentina and if the name you wanted for your child wasn’t on the names list then you couldn’t register your child with that name. So he later chose Sandro as his performing name. And apparently his original surname is not Sanchez. The immigration officer told his Hungarian immigrant grandfather on his arrival to BsAs that the original surname was too complicated and the story goes that the grumpy immigration officer took it upon himself to simplify the name to the more – in his view - pronounceable Sanchez. This I’m told was quite a common occurrence at that time and many families have surnames that were changed from their original.
There appears to be two Sandros. Sandro the performer who was also known as El Gitano and Roberto Sanchez who lived a very private life mostly hidden in a large house which people named ‘The Bunker;’ in an unglamorous southern suburb of Buenos Aires. He didn’t go out much nor was he seen in BsAs celebrity circles. He didn’t do many interviews and the rare interviews he did do were with trusted friends from the past like Susana Gimenez.
The legend is that he first sang in a school show, miming and dancing to an Elvis record and it went down such a storm his teacher decided to repeat it. When he was repeating the performance, the Elvis record he was miming to broke but he went on singing with his own voice and this performance was even more of a hit than the first. He put passion into everything he did. He sang with passion, danced with passion, and struggled for his own life with the same passion. He was an optimistic fighter and he fought until the very last minute. He never gave up. But despite the double transplant (heart and lungs) being a success, he later died of septicaemia.
Apparently when he was ill he rang Susana Gimenez to make it clear that he wanted it known that he wouldn’t take advantage of his celebrity position. He didn’t want to queue jump the medical waiting list, he didn’t want to go in front of all those on the list also waiting for lung and heart transplants but wanted to be on the list like everyone else waiting for a heart.
His last show was in 2004; he had an oxygen tube attached to the microphone, in order to have enough air to breath whilst singing. He used to smoke 80 cigarettes a day; he always had a cigarette in his hand.
Although he had a very private life and was rarely seen in public, he was always very respectful to and never neglected his fans. He said he was indebted to them for making him such a big star. Every August 19th all of his ‘Nenas’ would gather at the door of ‘The bunker’ to sing him Feliz Cumpleanos. He would come out in his trademark red silk dressing gown to receive them, thank them for their loyalty and demonstrate that his charm was still intact. His charm was still intact until the end, even when he was ill. It was a rather bizarre spectacle to see him come to the hospital entrance dressed in his trademark dressing gown to appease the waiting press and fans.
His trembling voice, the exaggerated passionate lyrics, the exuberant outfits, his red silk robe, his gyrating hips and his fire will always be with his ‘Nenas’ and anyone who wants to become a fan in memoriam.
