The Premios Gardel a la Música (originally called Premios Carlos Gardel), or just Premios Gardel (in English, the Gardel Awards), is an award presented by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF) to recognize the best of Argentine music and to award the talent of Argentine artists in a diversity of genres and categories. The trophy depicts a sculpture of French Argentine tango singer Carlos Gardel, one of Argentina's music icons. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have more popular interest.
The honorees are chosen by a jury consisting of musicians, journalists and other members of the media, event producers, sound engineers, and personalities related to music. The awards are the Argentine equivalent to the American Grammy Awards and the British BRIT Awards. The Premios Gardel have been described as the "most important prize in the country's music business".
History After the ACE Awards (1992–1997) failed to become Argentina's standard music awards due to lack of support from the industry, the Gardel Awards appeared to take over that spot.
The awards are named after Carlos Gardel, one of Argentina's earliest and most well-known popular music performers. The awards were organized by CAPIF with the first ceremony held in 1999 for music released between June 1, 1997, and November 30, 1998. The jury for the first awards comprised 500 members.
In 2003, the voting committee was made "truly independent from the record companies, whose staffs can no longer vote," according to then-CAPIF executive director, Gabriel Salcedo. The jury increased to 1,500 members, including artists, producers, and journalists of "every musical genre". In the past, the Gardels were viewed as a "pat on the back" from the industry to its favorite, best-selling artists, but the revamped voting was viewed as giving transparency to the selection process and a new-found credibility to the awards themselves.
Ceremonies No. Year Date Gardel de Oro Host(s) Venue Broadcast Ref. 1 1999 14 April Sandro Jorge Guinzburg Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires El Trece 2 2000 24 April Mercedes Sosa Dady Brieva Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires 3 2001 31 March León Gieco Marcos Mundstock Luna Park Arena, Buenos Aires 4 2002 16 April Charly García Roberto Pettinato Teatro Opera, Buenos Aires 5 2003 17 March Luna Park Arena, Buenos Aires 6 2004 31 March Babasónicos Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires 7 2005 13 April Bersuit Vergarabat Telefe 8 2006 5 April Andrés Calamaro Manuel Wirzt and Hilda Lizarazu 9 2007 17 April Gustavo Cerati Roberto Pettinato Luna Park Arena, Buenos Aires El Trece 10 2008 26 March Andrés Calamaro Bebe Contemponi Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires 11 2009 22 July Luis Alberto Spinetta 12 2010 4 November Gustavo Cerati 13 2011 30 November Divididos 14 2012 8 November Escalandrum Soledad and Bahiano Usina del Arte, Buenos Aires CM 15 2013 21 August Abel Pintos Deborah de Corral and Mex Urtizberea Teatro Opera, Buenos Aires C5N 16 2014 4 September Roberto Pettinato and Sandra Mihanovich Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires 17 2015 2 June Axel Roberto Pettinato and Catarina Spinetta TN 18 2016 7 June Luis Alberto Spinetta Lalo Mir 19 2017 6 June Abel Pintos Lalo Mir and Maju Lozano 20 2018 29 May Charly García Germán Paoloski Kirchner Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires TVP 21 2019 14 May Marilina Bertoldi Iván de Pineda Ángel Bustelo Auditorium, Mendoza TNT 22 2020 18 September David Lebón Ale Sergi and Natalie Perez 23 2021 23 July Fito Páez Jey Mammón and Eleonora Pérez Caressi 24 2022 23 August Wos Movistar Arena, Buenos Aires Star+ 25 2023 16 May Trueno Iván de Pineda 26 2024 28 May Miranda! 27 2025 18 June Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso Gabriela Radice Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires 28 2026 26 May Milo J Diego Leuco Footnotes:
Categories The Gardel Awards are awarded in a series of categories, each of which isolate a specific contribution to the recording industry. The standard awards list nominees in each category from which a winner is selected. Twenty-four Gardel Awards were awarded in the first award ceremony, but the number of awards has grown and fluctuated over time as new categories are added and some older ones removed. As of 2022, the number of categories is forty-eight.
General Field The General Field are standard awards for musical works which do not restrict nominees by genre or some other criterion: Album of the Year is awarded to the performer(s) of a full vocal or instrumental album. The winner of this category receives the Gardel de Oro Award, a golden version of the trophy and the Awards' greatest distinction. Song of the Year is awarded to the performer(s), songwriter(s) and composer(s) of the song. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer(s), producer(s) and recording engineer(s) of a full album. Formerly known as Production of the Year, it also allows songs to be nominated since 2020. Best New Artist is awarded to the performer of a full album or song who has not released more than two albums or twenty songs. From 2007 to 2018 (except in 2010), the category was replaced genre-specific versions for pop, rock, tango, folklore, tropical and cuarteto. Best Collaboration is awarded to the performers, songwriter(s) and composer(s) of the song. It is awarded since 2020.
Winners No. Year Album of the Year Song of the Year Record of the Year Best New Artist(s) Ref. 1 1999 Al Despertar "Volver a empezar" Volver a Empezar Marcela Morelo 2 2000 Signos "Campeones de la Vida" La Marcha del Golazo Solitario Laura Miller 3 2001 Narigón del Siglo "Soy Cordobés" Narigón del Siglo Roxana Carabajal 4 2002 Un Mundo Diferente "Shima Uta" Casaerius Alfredo Casero 5 2003 Influencia "Tu Vicio" Influencia Mambrú 6 2004 Infame "Irresponsables" Infame Emme 7 2005 La Argentinidad al Palo "Los Caminos de la Vida" MTV Unplugged Juana Molina 8 2006 El Regreso (album) "El Ángel de la Bicicleta" Café de los Maestros Vol. 1 y 2 Migue García 9 2007 Ahí vamos "Crimen" Ahí vamos David Bolzoni 10 2008 La Lengua Popular "5 Minutos Más" Laberintos entre aristas y dialectos Ella Es Tan Cargosa 11 2009 Un mañana "Mi elemento" Quebrado Romina Vitale 12 2010 Fuerza natural "Déjà vu" Fuerza natural De Bueyes 13 2011 Amapola del 66 "Sólo Un Momento" Amapola del 66 Tan Biónica 14 2012 Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla "Paisaje" Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla Deborah de Corral 15 2013 Sueño Dorado "Sueño Dorado" Chances Rosario Ortega 16 2014 Abel "Aquí Te Espero" Abel Indios 17 2015 Tus Ojos, Mis Ojos "Afinidad" Tus Ojos, Mis Ojos Lali 18 2016 Los Amigo "Antes y Después" Único Julieta Rada 19 2017 11 "Cómo Te Extraño" Barro y Fauna Benjamín Amadeo 20 2018 Random "Aire" Random J Mena 21 2019 Prender Un Fuego "Sin Querer Queriendo" Studio 2 Destino San Javier 22 2020 Lebón & Co. "Canguro" Lebón & Co. Wos 23 2021 La Conquista del Espacio "Ladrón" Calambre Nathy Peluso 24 2022 Oscuro Éxtasis "Miénteme" "Mafiosa" Tiago PZK 25 2023 Bien o Mal "La Triple T" "Argentina" Noelia Recalde 26 2024 Hotel Miranda! "Obsesión" "La Rueda Mágica" Milo J 27 2025 Baño María "Fanático" "Real Gangsta Love" Olivia Wald 28 2026 La Vida Era Más Corta "Niño" "Niño" Blair
Footnotes:
Genre-specific categories As of the 2026 ceremony, there are 53 categories, including the General Field.
No longer awarded
Voting process The voting process begins every year with media companies entering albums, songs and music videos for consideration. Entries are made online. Once the postulation date expires and all entries have been registered in the differed categories, CAPIF summons the Revision Committees, work groups consisting of journalists, producers, musicians and specialist that revise the entries to revise that the entries have been registered in the right category according to its music genre and particular characteristics. Once it has been revised, the selection of nominees begins.
For selecting the nominees, CAPIF informs the jury of the Gardel Awards that the first stage of the voting process is open for each category. Members of the jury can access online to the audio and video contents that habe been submitted for nomination and choose those that consider should be nominated. Once this stage of the voting process finishes, CAPIF publishes the official list of nominees.
After the list of nominees has been defined, the voting members must select one winner for each category. This is also made online. Lastly, CAPIF informs the winners in the pre-telecast ceremony and the official awards show ceremony.
See also 19th Annual Premios Gardel 21st Annual Premios Gardel 23rd Annual Premios Gardel
References