Ada Falcón (born Aída Elsa Ada Falcone; 17 August 1905 – 4 January 2002) was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
dancer, singer and film actress of the 1920s and 1930s. She starred in the film ''Ídolos de la radio'' in 1934. She was famous for her tango work and made over 200 recordings in the 1920s and 1930s. She shared a long relationship with orchestra leader
Francisco Canaro
Francisco Canaro (November 26, 1888 – December 14, 1964) was a Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader.
Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, in 1888. His parents were Italian immigrants, and later, when he was less than 10 ye ...
. She mysteriously disappeared from the limelight in 1942 and lived as a recluse until she died in 2002 at age 96.
Early life
Falcón was born in Buenos Aires in 1905. She started acting in theatre as a little girl of only 11 years old. She was known as "la Joyita Argentina" (the Little Argentinian Jewel). At age 13, she appeared in her first movie, ''
El festín de los Caranchos'' , during the year of 1918.
As a singer, she worked in musical shows and as an actress in theatre and moving pictures. In 1925, she made her first tango recordings as a soloist with Osvaldo Fresedo's orchestra, for Victor Records.
Falcón was a mezzo-soprano, an unusual register at that times for female tango singers, most of whom were sopranos.
Falcón reached national and international fame while singing with the orchestra of
Francisco Canaro
Francisco Canaro (November 26, 1888 – December 14, 1964) was a Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader.
Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, in 1888. His parents were Italian immigrants, and later, when he was less than 10 ye ...
. Between 1930 and 1942 she was at the peak of her artistic life: she recorded more than 200 songs, and became a wealthy artist.
Personal life
During her years of popularity, Falcón enjoyed luxury items like furs, expensive jewelry and powerful automobiles. She lived in a three-story townhouse in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
.
She had a turbulent romantic relationship of ten years with Francisco Canaro, who was a married man at the time. Canaro refused to divorce his wife.
Seclusion
In 1942 Falcón suddenly withdrew from public life and remained isolated in her house, avoiding contact with the outside world. She occasionally left the house to go to mass dressed entirely in black, her face covered by a net or by sunglasses, wearing a white turban and white gloves.
The cause of this withdrawal is a mystery; she never talked about it. Speculation that love disappointments with Canaro could have been an important element was never confirmed.
After a while she became a "tertiary
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
" and entered an isolated convent in the hills of
Córdoba Province. There she lived as a pauper by her own choice, in a small cell with little furniture and frugal meals, until she was transferred at an advanced age to a retirement home due to failing health.
She died in 2002 and is buried in the mausoleum dedicated to famous artists in
Chacarita Cemetery
Cementerio de la Chacarita in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is known as the National Cemetery and is the largest in Argentina.
Location
The cemetery is in the barrio or district of Chacarita, in the western part of Buenos Aires. Its main entrance i ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
Life documentary
Filmmakers
Lorena Munoz and
Sergio Wolf
Sergio may refer to:
* Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio
* Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found
* ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass
* ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film
* ''Se ...
made a documentary about Falcón's life, titled ''
Yo no sé qué me han hecho tus ojos (I Don't Know What Your Eyes Have Done to Me)'', which was released in 2003. Although she had not allowed her picture to be taken in nearly 60 years and rarely gave interviews, she allowed the filmmakers to film an interview with her shortly before her death.
Films
* ''
El festín de los caranchos'' (1918)
* ''
Tu cuna fue un conventillo'' (1925)
* ''
Ídolos de la radio
''Idols of the Radio'' ( es, Idolos de la radio) is a 1934 Argentine tango film directed by Eduardo Morera and written by Nicolás de las Llanderas and Arnaldo Malfatti. Starring Ada Falcon, Tito Lusiardo and Tita Merello.
Cast
* Ada Falcon ...
'' (1934)
* ''
Yo no sé qué me han hecho tus ojos'' (2003)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Ada
1905 births
2002 deaths
Singers from Buenos Aires
Argentine film actresses
Tango film actresses
Tango singers
Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery
20th-century Argentine women singers