The meteoric rise of Argentinean tenor Marcelo Alvarez has caught the world of classical music by surprise. Just a few years ago, Alvarez was a mere accountant in Cordoba, dreaming of a life on stage at the world's most prominent opera houses. But then he won a song contest and everything changed...

Recently Alvarez returned to his native Argentina to take on a most meaningful artistic challenge - performing and recording the songs of Carlos Gardel, the legendary Tango crooner whose music has become an Argentinean obsession.

Gardel, born illegitimately in Toulouse in 1898, rose to stratospheric heights in the 1920s. He was an international celebrity, performing for royalty in Europe and movie stars in New York. He made numerous recordings and a dozen motion pictures for Paramount. Although he was tragically killed in an airplane crash in 1935, his music only grows in popularity, and to this day continues to be the pulse of Argentina.

Marcelo Alvarez seeks his inspiration from Gardel who in turn was heavily influenced by Enrico Caruso. He chats with colleagues and friends. He visits Gardel's old haunts on the seedy side of Buenos Aires that come alive only late in the night. But most importantly, he sings the songs - songs of passion and despair, of longing and lust - the songs that have made Tango one of the twentieth century's most popular music forms.