Popular Culture as a

Source for the Historians

The Tango in its Epoca de oro,
1917- 1943
Donald S. Castro
El ser argentino.. .vive
la expresion tango
[Argentines is expressed
through the tango]

The tango lyric is a source for historical research into the reality
of Argentina during the time period of 1917-1943. Since the tango
is so intrinsically tied to Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital the
reality of Argentina will be viewed through porteno [pertaining
to Buenos Aires] eyes. While Buenos Aires is not Argentina in a
geographic sense, it is the preponderant capital of the nation, it
represents a concentration of population of significant importance
vis-a-vis
the rest of the nation, and it is the seat of economic and
political power. In these sense the porteno view, if not truly
representative of all Argentines, is in fact the one that counted.
The Argentine most closely associated with the tango in its
vocalized form [tango cancion]was, and still is, Carlos Gardel (18901935). N o other tango interpreter has eclipsed him, even though he
has been dead for fifty years. There were, however, other tango
interpreters both male and female-who were Gardels contemporaries, and these very often were great and popular figures.
The time period for this study is bracketed by two concrete events,
one cultural and the other political.2 In 1917 Pascual Contursi wrote
the first tango which was designed to be sung and not just danced.
This tango Mi noche triste [My Sad Night] began the new era
for the tango, one in which the tango moved from the feet to the
rnouth.l3This is the origin of the tango-cancion [tango-song, e.g.
tangos for the voice]. In 1943 the government of Ramon S. Castillo
was replaced by a military group which included Coronel Juan D.
Peron; this event began the period of political ascendancy for Peron
45

46

Journal of Popular Culture

which culminated in his election to the Argentine presidency in 1946.

The Peronist Era (1946-1955) marks a new orientation for popular
culture because of the political inclination of Peron to form his power
base in the urban and rural popular classes and to focus on nationalism
(lo criollo) [creole or nativistic value^].^
The political circumstances influencing the earlier, pre-Peronist
era started off well with the election of Hipolito Yrigoyen to the
Argentine presidency in 1916. Yrigoyen appeared to represent the
political and social aspirations of the middle and working classes.
However, the split within Yrigoyens political party the Unidn C&ca
Radical (UCR) [Radical Civic Union Party] into factions lessened
his impact. These factions were the Personalists (pro-Yrigoyen)
and the Anti-Personalists
(or Alvearists), or those who
supported the more conservative Marcel0 Torcuato de Alvear who
was president from 1922 to 1928. In 1928 Yrigoyen was elected again
as Argentine President. He was removed from office by a military
coup led by General Jose Felix Uriburu in 1930 and thus ended this
attempt at middle class politics. The Uriburu revolution started what
the Argentines call La mishiadura or the chaotic years of political
and social instability caused by the depression. Therefore, it is possible
to divide the time period under study into separate decades of the
1920s and of the 1930s.
In the United States, and Europe, the decade of the 1920s was
the crazy years 10s aGos locos]. In a famous fox trot Pero hay
una melena [But, There is a Curly Head] by Jose Bohr, the most
startling chance occurring in 1920s is well described:
Antes femenina era la mujer
per0 con la moda se ha echado a perder,
antes no mostraba m& que rostro y pie
per0 hoy muestra todo lo que quieren ver.
hoy todas las chicas parecen varon ,
fuman, toman wiskey y usan pantalon
Mas lo que me causa mas indignaci6n
son esas melenas que usan las garconnes
y anda por Florida palpitando un flirt
y con su flequillo y el pel0 corto/n
no sabe la ingenua que m& que mujer

parece la pobre Cristobal Colo/n

Por eso detest0 las melenas
solo les va bien eso a las nenas5

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

47

[Before women were feminine,

now fashion has thrown all that out.
Before only the face and foot showed,
hut now they show all there is to be seen.
Today all the women seem to be men,
they smoke, drink whiskey, and use pants.
The thing that causes me the most indignation
is the fact that bobbed hair used by
young men is now used as well by women.
And they go about Florida Street ousing
flirtations
With their bangs and bobbed hair.
These poor fools dont realize that instead
of looking like women,
they look more like Christopher Columbus
Thats why I hate those curls,
Which look best on little girls.]

Women cut their hair, smoked in public and even drove cars.
In the famous tango of Pascual Contursi La mina del Ford [The
skirt with a Ford] (1924), the modern woman is described as one
who wants all the material benefits of the good life-an apartment
with balconies, gas heat, waxed floors, carpets, beds with mattresses,
and a maid who announces, Seiiora, araca esta el Ford! [SeKora,
the Ford is here!]6
In the period under study, there were times of economic depression
(1919-1920, 1929-1935) and of relative prosperity (1920-1929).
Notwithstanding the period of prosperity, wealth distribution in
Argentina, while better than in many other Latin American countries,
was not such that the urban working classes (both creole and
immigrant) felt the benefits of the boom periods. The living conditions
of the urban poor did not dramatically change from pre-World War
I period, where most lived in the porteco tenement house [conventilio].
While there may have been some improvements in hygiene with indoor
plumbing and electrification, most workers lived in one room with
poor to adequate ventilation. Conditions did not improve through
the 1920s nor in the 1930s.
A survey conducted in 1937 by the National Department of Labor
showed that sixty percent of the working class lived in only one room,
thirty percent in two rooms, and only ten percent in more than two
rooms.* The issue of housing was sufficiently important that i t was
a theme for tangos: For example, in La mina del Ford (1924), an

48

Journal of Popular Culture

apartment with a balcony was something that symbolized material

success; this contrasted with the depression of being alone in ones
dreary room, as in Pal Cambalache [To The Pawnshop] (1929),
and the idea of being so well off that one you keep a woman in
a spare apartment [ bulin], such as in Te fuiste?; Ja, Ja! [You
left? Hah, hah!] (1929), or of being able to afford the luxury of
a place just to meet with ones friends, as in El bulin de la calle
Ayacucho [The pad on Ayacucho Street] (1926).*0
In a 1932 survey on unemployment carried out by the National
Department of Labor, the government found that there were some
334,000 unemployed in the country; of these, 37.28 percent were
industrial workers (124,590, mainly in Gran Buenos Aires) and 44.48
percent were rural workers ( 125,000).12Over ninety-four percent of
these unemployed were men, with some 19,000 women also out of
work. Since there was no census in 1939, the only other census
benchmarks are in 1914 and in 1947. Therefore, it is hard to assess
the percentage of unemployed out of the total, potentially
economically active, population (e.g., over 14 years of age). In 1914
some 5,000,000 persons were considered to be in this category out
of a total population of close to 8,000,000; in 1947, with a national
population of close to 16,000,000, the potentially economically active
members were 11,300,000, or 62.5 percent of population in 1914 and
70.6 percent in 1947. Not all of those who were economically active
were employed. In 1914 only some 2,400,000 men and 700,000 women
were employed. In 1947 the figures are 5,000,000 males and 1,2000,000
females.13 These statistics do not include figures for underemployed.
The most striking tendency which these figures show is the increasing
number of women entering the labor force. Furthermore, the rural
unemployed are also significant, representing the future cabecitas
negras [people of dark hair, e.g. mestizo/indian background] of the
Peron era.
In the 192Os, rural small properties (1000 hectares or less) began
to decline (some fifty-three percent by 1939). At the same time, there
was a marked increase in arrendatarios [share croppers] and
agricolos asalariados [salaried farm labor]. l 4 These persons were
to hardest hit by the Depression, and they began to migrate to the
cities, particularly Buenos Aires, in the 1930s. In Buenos Aires they
joined the ranks of the unemployed and underemployed because of
their lack of marketable skills in an urban society which was becoming
more industrialized. Here they formed ranks with the already
dissatisfied and frustrated labor class.

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

49

The sense of frustration is clearly stated in the tangos

Yira. . .Yira [Aimless Wandering] and Cambalache
[Pawnshop] both by Enrique Santos Discepolo and Pan
[Bread] by Celedonio Esteban F10res.I~
Yira.. .Yira (1929)
Cuando la suerte, que es grela,
fayando y fayando
te largue parao;
cuando no tengas ni fe
ni yerba de ayer
secandose al sol;
cuando ese mango
que ta haga morfar,
la indeferencia del mundo
que es sordo y es mudo
recieb sent&.
[Aimless Wandering]
[When luck, fickle as a woman,
as is alwavs lacking, always lacking,
has left you cold
when you think all is well,
you find yourself aimless and desperate
when you have nothing, not even faith
nor yesterdays yerba mate
drying in the sun;
when you wear out your shoes
searching for those few coins
so that you can get a1 little to eat,
now you will feel the indifference of the world
which is also deaf and dumb.]

Cambalache (1935)
Es lo mismo el que labora
noche y dia como un buey
que el que vive de 10s otros
que el que mata, que el que cura
o esta fuera de la ley.

[Pawnshop]
[It is the same, he who works
night and day like an ox,

50

Journal of Popular Culture

he who lives off others,

he who kills, he who cures the sick,
or is outside of the law.]
Pan (ca. 1931)
Trabajar en donde? Extender la mano
pidiendo a1 que pasa limosna por que?
Recibir la afrenta de un perdon, hermano.
[Bread]

[Work. . .where? Hold out the hand

asking the passerby for alms, why?
To have to overcome the shame
of Please brother. . 1

Particularly hard years for labor are reflected in the number of

strikes that occurred and the number of workers affected. In 1930,
there were 125 strikes, with 29,331 workers involved and a loss of
close to 700,000 cumulative work days. In 1932, there were 105 strikes,
with 34,562 workers involved and a loss of 1,299,061 cumulative work
days. In the 1930s, the last major year of important strikes was in
1936. In that year there were 109 strikes, with 85,438 workers involved
and over 1,300,000work days lost.16These figures represent the capital
only.
As a base figure, close to 370,000 workers were unionized in 1936
out of a total estimated porteiio labor force of over 520,000 (1935)~
Therefore, over sixteen percent of the entire porteAo work force was
on strike in 1936 and, if only unionized workers are used (most
probable strikers), this figure is about twenty-three percent. If we
add the number of strikers in 1936 to the number of unemployed
persons represented
(ca. 120,000), the percentage of out-of-work
a much higher figure, or one representing close to 40 percent of the
porteno labor force.
Only one tango of the period dealt specifically with strikes. It
is by Mario Batistella (d. 1968).
Al pie de la Santa Cruz (ca.1933) Is
Declaran la huelga
hay hambre en las casas,
es mucho el trabajo,
y es poco el jornal,
y en ese entrevero
de lucha sangrienta

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

51

se venga de un hombre
la ley patronal.
[At the Foot of the Holy Cross]
[They declared the strike
there is hunger in the houses,
the work is hard and
the salary is little
and in this confusion
of bloody battle
the law of the owners
takes revenge on one man.]

This was not unusual because during this time tango themes
were more a representation of a mournful sense of frustration than
real songs of social protest.
Another example of the tango of the depression was written in
1934 by Danta A. Linyera Si volviera Jesus (If Jesus Returned).lg
Si volviera Jesus
otra vez en la cruz
lo harian torturar.
La mujer engana
y el hombre se ensana
y no hay sol ni pan
para el pobrecito
que aun Cree, bendito
que existe bondad.. .
La injusticia impera, Donde esta el arnor
que tu predicaste, duke Redentor?
Magdelena vaga por 10s callejones
apedreada, hambrienta . . .mandan las pasiones
ya todo se compra y todo se vende
La inocencia sufre; nadie la comprende

[If Jesus returned

again on the cross
he would be tortured
again by the deceiving woman
and the perfidous man
and there is neither sun nor bread
for the poor man
who still believes, Blessed One,
that goodness exists. . .
Injustice rules, where is the love

52

Journal of Popular Culture

you predicated, Sweet Redeemer?

Magdalena still wanders
the cobblestoned streets
hungry. . .Passions dominate
and everything is bought and sold.
Innocence suffers; no on understands.]

Along with the economic and political changes occurring in the

1920s and 1930s, the city environment of Buenos Aires also changed
dramatically. In the 1930s, major projects were carried out which
complemented the impressive growth of the city achieved during an
earlier period (1890-1920). The whole heart of the city was torn
out of produce the broad Avenida 9 de Julio and the Plaza de Libertad
with its obelisk (1930-1936). Corrientes angosta [narrow
Corrientes] also became the broad avenue that it is today (19321935). These changes produced a sense of loss in the popular mind
and produced numerous nostalgic tangos
Corrientes y Esmeralda (1933) 2 1
(Celedonia Esteban Flores)
Esquina porteEa, este milonguero
te ofrece su afecto mas hondo y coridal.
Cuando con la vida este cero a cero
te prometo el verso mas rante y caner0
para hacer el tango que te haga inmortal.
[Corrientes and Esmeralda
[Portega corner, this fun lover
offers you his most deep and cordial affection.
When this life is zero to zero,

I promise you the verse

most profound and sincere
to make a tango for your immortality.]
Caminito (1927)
(Gabino Coria Penaloza)22
Caminito que entonces estabas
bordado de trebol y juncos en flor.
una sombra ya pronto ser&
una sombra lo mismo que yo.
[Little Street]

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

53

[Little street that you once were

bordered with clover and flowering rushes
a shadow you soon will be
a shadow the same as I.]

One of the most significant change in urban social life occurred

in the 1920s. In March 1919 houses of prostitution were 0utlawed.2~
The now outlawed bordello was the home of the tango. The tango
of the Guardia vieja [Old Guard, e.g. pre-1917 Tango] was
closely associated with the folk types of the bordello, especially the
compadrito [ladies man], the male-uo [criminal] and their women
( las mujeres de. la vida, minus, chinas, prendas, hembras)
[streetwalkers, skirts, bitches, etc.]. The tango moved into the new
environment of the Frenchified cabaret and into the popular Teatro
de revistas (similar to contemporary vaudeville). The women who
worked in the bordellos moved into these two new areas of
entertainment, and, if they did not have the prerequisites for success
in these places, they took to the streets. Because women of la vida
were closely associated with porteno night life, decent women of
all classes stayed at home, thereby creating a male-dominated
atmosphere in the entertainment centers.
Prostitution was an important theme in tango lyrics as well,
reflecting a pervasive sense of the loneliness of a single man in search
of affection and love. The cabaret in the 192Os, attempted to meet
the needs of many young men of the striving middle class, who sought
to emulate the life of the upper-class swells who had spent time
in Paris in the Belle E@oque of pre-World War I. It was in the
cabaret where the tango put on a smoking jacket and the copetinas
(e.g. women who worked the bars to get men to buy drinks and who
were in large part prostitutes) spoke F r e n ~ h . 2 ~
The tango in its new form after 1917 was well-suited to the
music halls of the Teatro de revistas. Many tangos and tango careers
will be closely associated with the teatro (e.g. Ignacio Corsini, Pascual
Contursi), while others were equally closely associated with the cabaret
(e.g. Julio De Caroj.25
Blas Matamoro in his L a cuidad del tango: T a n g o historic0 y
sociedad [ T h e City of the Tango: T h e T a n g o as History and Society]
(1969) suggested that the cabaret was an important locale for the
emergent politicians of the U n i o n Civica Radical. The political
division between the supporters of Yrigoyen ( Yrigoyenistas)and those
of the more conservative aristocratic Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear (
Alvearistas) were also felt in the tango because each of those groups
seemed to have their own favorite typical orchestra of tango players

54

Journal of Popular Culture

[orguesta t$ica] or singer.26 The more plebeian Yrigoyenistas favored

such tango groups as those of Juan Maglio (1880-1934) and Francisco
Canaro (b. 1888), while the Aluearistas favored those of Julio De Caro
(b. 1899), Enrique Pedro Delfino (1895-1967), and Juan Carlos
Cobian ( 1888-1942).2
In the period of the early twenties, technical advances in the
electronic media of phonographs and moving pictures gave the tango
a broader audience than was possible earlier. The tango early
dissemination locales were the popular theatre ( sainete criollo, teatro
de revistas),dance halls, baudy houses, and the streets of Buenos Aires.
When the tango moved up-town, from the port area of the city
to Palermo and the theatre district of Lavalle and Corrientes streets,
it added not only a new clientele, but as well as a new means of
dissemination-the big band and the vocalist. The new electronic
recording process popularized the vocalist, and the films popularized
the dance form. Together they generated interest for the cabaret with
its tango bands and vocalists. When sound became part of films after
1929, even greater possibilities existed for the popularity of tangoes
as both a dance and as an aural musical form. This in turn would
encourage people to buy records so that, by the early 1930s, the
electronic media of films and recordings would have conditioned the
public for a greater disseminator of popular music, the radio.28 It
is also noteworthy that the first full length Argentine sound film
was about the tango and the leading tango interpreters of the time.
( 1933).Z9
The dominant tango personality during the period from 19201935 was Carlos Gardel (1890-1935). He was the first one to record
Contursis tango cancidn.30 While Gardel was a dominant tango
interpreter, he was not the only one of importance. Further he was
out of the country for long periods of time on tour in Europe and
in the other American republics including the United States. He left
Argentina in 1933 and, as fate would determine, never to return.31
Gardel has been the personification and, in some senses, the deification
of the tango.32 Because of Gardels importance, other tango interpreters
have become secondary. This in unfortunate because many of them
were great and should be considered in their own right. This is
particularly true of Ignacio Corsini, El galan (1891-1967); and
i t is as well true for another group of interpreters who were
overshadowed by Gardel, the female vocalists (and writers) including
such greats as Ada Falcon, Azucena Maisani (La nata gaucha),
Rosita Quiroga, and Libertad Lamarque. The role of women both
as tango interpreters and subjects of tango is an important element
in understanding the porteno social milieu.

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

55

As example of Gardels preeminence over all others can be easily

seen in an analysis of the books written about the tango and tango
interpreters. In the historiography of the tango many books have
been written about Carlos Gardel.33 Very few books have been written
about other tango interpreters as individuals. In the monumental
multi-volume study Historia del tango (History of the tango), one
entire volume is dedicated to Gardel while all the other male vocalists
are included in only two volumes, Las U O C ~ Sdel tango [The Male
Tango Vocalists], and even less is dedicated to all of the female
vocalists, Las cantantes [The Female vocalist^].^^
For male vocalists the importance of the use of the smoking
jacket and the importance of being portrayed as a macho are significant
and also serve as important keys to the porteno psyche. Tango vocalists
adopted a life style which emulated the idle rich and were often
portrayed in publicity photographs dressed in a smoking jacket
(c.f. Carlos Gardel and Ignacio Corsini). The smoking jacket, which
at first may seem to be nothing more than an item of dress, was
an important tango symbol of the cabaret tango-cancion. The most
famous is Viejo smoking where this item of clothing clearly
represented . . .pa mi sos un sueiio [to me you are a dream]. This
tango was written by Celedonia Esteban Flores and was recorded by
Gardel in 1930.35
T o hacer tango [to do tango] one had to dress up. Saturday
night was the tango night. It represented an end to a work week
with long hours and poor pay (Monday through Saturday) and was
a time to forget real life and escape. The tango was escape.
La h t i m a copa (1925)36
(Juan A. Caruso)
&he#, amigo, no miss; echemcy Ilene
hasta el borde la copa de champan,
que esta noche de farra y de alegrca
el dolor que hay en mi a h a quiero ahogar.
[The Last Cup]
[Pour, friend, just pour, pour and fill
t o the rim my champagne glass;
this night is for fun and play
the pain I have in my soul I want to drown.]

The tango Lunes [Monday] (1929) clearly shows how the

workday of Monday was the rude end to the vida bacana [wild
life] and how Josefina the queen of the tango bar had to go off

56

Journal of Popular Culture

to the factory, and how Pantaleon took off his weekend suit and
put on his alpargatas [cloth shoes] and work clothes to go . .cargar
carbon a1 Dique 3 [to off-load coal at pier #3].37
Therefore, to put on different clothes than those worn in the
work place, to replace bib-overalls with a store-bought suit, was
in fact a symbolic act of escape from reality. The smoking jacket
was also a representation of being able to act as if one were of those
upper-class swells. The tango vocalists, for the most part, were not
of the upper-class, but through their use of the smoking jacket they
symbolically became part of the upper-class and through them so
did their followers. Through the tango was escape from the harshness
of the depression.
The effects of depression cut hard even into the discretionary
funds of the middle class. In a survey carried out in 6000
portenohouseholds by the Labor Department in July 1933, workers
on average showed a deficit at the end of each month and close to
fourteen percent of the middle class showed a deficit at the end of
a m0nth.3~A white-collar worker [ernpleado] with a wife and two/
three children spent on average 74--100$m/n on food and 32-46$m/
n on rent (for a room 4 x 4 ~ 5meters). The average monetary monthly
salary of a portego industrial worker was 80$m/n. It was estimated
that to live modestly [ rnodestarnente] a family needed about 175$m/
n as monthly income in 1932.39 Therefore, theater and club attendance
declined and many tango groups dependent on cabaret work suffered.
For example, in the unemployment statistics of 1932 close to five
hundred profesores de orquesta [professors of orchestra, e.g.
musicians] were listed as unemployed. In one tango of this period
La muchachada del centro [The Girls of Downtown], (1932) the
effects of the depression on cabaret attendance is clearly
demonstrated. 40
I .

Vos tambign ie has desfondao

y has quedao
con la crisis desplumao?

Que decfs?
Te ha cachao el temporal
a vos tambie/n
y estas seco y sin boleto
en el anden?
Que has empenao la uoiturette
y en colectivo la viajas
que ya no vas a1 cabaret

Popular Culture as a Source or the Historians

57

y con cafe te comtormas.

[You too have lost your job

and this crisis has left you
without a dime?
What is it you say?
The storm has got you too,
and you are broke and
without a bus ticket
here on the sidewalk?
You pawned you cute little car
and now you travel on a bus
and you dont go to the cabaret
and you now make do with the cafe.]

In another tango of the same period the lyricist states that there
are only two things of importance in life: drink (champagne) and
women.41Like the tango, drink also represented an escape from reality,
a way of drowning ones sorrows. In tangos such as La ultima copa
[The Last Drink] by Juan Andres Caruso (1925), and Esta noche
me emborracho [Tonight I am Going to Get Drunk] by Enrique
Santos Discepolo (1930), this theme is clearly
While it is
obvious that champagne was not the drink of the poor, they could
drown their sorrows in caZa [cane brandy] or in uino comun [table
wine]. What was significant was that drink as such is an important
theme for tangos as were the sorrows that lead to drink.
These sorrows were caused not only because of social or economic
factors but perhaps more so by the relationship, or lack of it, between
men and women. Love in tangos, and the love that tango crooners
sang about, is not the simple boy meets girl, they fall in love, and
live happily ever after. In fact the tango writers tell of a man who
suffers from love and in most cases the love affair ends because of
a females infidelity ( traicz6n) and the abandonment of her lover.
The love affairs are all irregular (e.g. no marriage) and there is no
mention of the traditional ideal of a husband-wife relationship with
home and children. In these cases where the lover affair is closed
because of the mans action, it is almost an expression of relief and
a return to liberty. While these themes do not fit the classic definition
of machismo, they do seem to fit the opposite, castration. The tango
has been described as a song of male defeat.43
Nunca mas (1922)4
(Oscar Lomuto)

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Journal of Popular Culture

Y o que te quise por buena

y en tus dukes labios, nena,
me quemaste el corazon. ..
[Never more]
[I loved you for being good
and in your sweet lips, my girl
you burned my heart.]

The tango, both as a dance and as a song is filled with latent

sexuality. Perhaps this is existence as a confirmation of virility even
in defeat. Women are drawn as a ma1 necesario [a necessary evil]
and that even the lonely man who has been repeatedly rejected still
needs female companionship even if it is illusory. It is almost as
if the male needed protection from the cruel world and this could
only come through a painful search for the right woman who would
be like the ever sacrificing and protecting mother (another dominant
theme of tangos).
Sentencia ( 1923)45
(Celedonio Esteban Flores)
El carino de mi madre, mi viejecita adorada,
que por santa merecia, senor juer, ser venerada,
en la calle de mi vida fue como luz de farol.
[Sentence]
[The affection of my mother, my adored little mom
who sainthood deserves, Mr. Judge,
to be venerated in the roadway
of my life as a beacon of goodness]

Solace was often found in understanding arms of the papusa or

prostitute. Even this was threatened. One of the effects of the September
6, 1930 revolution of General Uriburu was futher restrictions on
prostitution.46 After the scandal of the white slavery ring Zwi Migdal,
even protectors of prostitution such as Albert0 Barcelo, Mayor of
Avellaneda had to check their activities.47 This new morality no doubt
cut deeply into the cabaret and popular theater attendance even by
those who could afford it. It did not, however, seem to affect the
tango because the papusa was still a popular topic. The broad avenue
in PaIermo Park, lined with palm trees (La Palmera) even with
the new morality still had its streetwalkers and their clients. Porteno

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

59

night life was still male dominated and so was the tango. It had,
however, lost its gaiety of the 1920s.
A tango written in the early 1930s clearly shows this change
in attitude and its effect on one mujer de la vida Madame Ivonne.
It is a story of a beauty brought to Buenos Aires from the Latin
Quarter of Paris in the 1920s by a young Argentine who later
abandoned her. Now she had only her memories and her sadness
and with . . .ojos muy trieste bebe su champin. [ . . .sad eyes drinks
her champagne] (Madame Ivonne, Enrique Cadicarno, 1933).48
The changing role of women starting with the new fashion of
bobbing the hair and short skirts (ca. 1920) became also topics for
the tango such as in En la palmera [Down and Out] (1930)where
the songs protagonist claims he wants to get married, but all the
girls want is a man with . . .una cuenta en el Banco Nacion [. . .an
account with the National Bank].49
Male-female relationships as described in the tango of the
Golden Age are an important element in psyche of the @orteZoboth male and female. An analysis of the respective tango repertoires
of the male and female vocalists demonstrates the unequal relationship
between the sexes and a disjointed a view of one for the other.
Rosa Rodriquez Quiroga (Rosita) was a leading female tango
interpreter of this period (died 1984). She came from a poor working
class family, she was raised by her mother who was a seamstress,
and without the benefit of a fathers presence.50She has been called
. . .la novia de Buenos Aires. Alma de todas sus esquinas. Rosita
Quiroga es el tango misrn0.5~[. . .the sweetheart of Buenos Aires.
The spirit of all its street corners. Rosita Quiroga is the tango itself.]
She was the first female vocalist on portezo radio (1923)52 Of this
early time on radio, she commented that one radio owner (Francisco
Brusa) paid in pocillos de cafe [bags of coffee]. She made her first
recording in 1924 for which she earned 20$m/11.5~ In 1934, it was
reported that she earned . . .una suma superior a 10s 200,00O$m/
n en concept0 de g r a b a ~ i o n e s . [.
~ ~. .from her recording over
200,00O$m/n.] She recorded over 500 records. Her importance relative
to Carlos Gardel and Ignacio Corsini, in terms of number of
recordings, seems rather meager compared to Gardel who had over
1000recordings, or to Corsinin who had over 700 recordings.55 Gardels
earnings also way overshadowed hers. For example Gardel could
command 2000$m/n for a radio show when at the same time Rosita
Quiroga could only earn 500$m/n.56
Celedonia Esteban Flores, El negro Cele, [The Black Cele]
(1986-1947)felt that Rosita Quiroga and Carlos Gardel were ideally
suited to his tango lyrics because of Rositas entonacion coloquial

60

Journal of Popular Culture

[colloquial tonality] and Gardels acento viril [manly voice

qualityl.57 Other tango lyricists also dedicated a number of tangos
to Rosita because of her special quiet intimate style. Quiroga
distinguished herself from her fellow female vocalists by writing a
number of tangos such as Oime negro, [Listen to Me Dark Haired
One] Carta Brava [Daring Letter] (music by Celedonia E. Flores),
De estirpe portena [Porteno Bred] and Flor de taupe [Taupe
Flower1.58
One of Rosita Quirogas most famous renditions of a tango is
one that she introduced in 1926 En la via [On the way] by Edward
Escaris Mendez (1888-1957).59 This tango was really written for a
male vocalist and not for a female because it is about a man jilted
by a woman.

A ver, che, mocito, portame cigarros..

y ensille ese vaso de neuvo,
que yo no me sumo con esos otarios
que chupan de bronca, llorando despues

A que andar con vueltas - si es largo el rosario

cortado al despecho - por una mujer!
[Hey, waiter, bring me some smokes
and fill u p this cup again
I dont truck with those fools
who fill up with anger and cry later.
To twist about on the troubled road
to despair, all due to a woman.]

This tango with its image of a woman is not untypical of the

repertoire of Quiroga, since most of her tangos were . . .puro Gardel
[pure Gardell.60 An interesting incident in 1925 demonstrates this
point well. The tango Mocosita [Little Girl Who Puts on Airs]
by Victor Solino (b. 1897) was recorded by Rosita for Victor
Records. Shortly thereafter Gardel wanted to record it for Odeon
Records. He made the record, but Victor would not allow Odeon
to distribute it.6l
Other famous female vocalists were Sofia Bozan, Manolita Poli,
Azucena Maisani (La Zata gaucha), Ada Falcon, and Libertad
Lamarque. Sofia Bozan, a star in the popular theater of the decades
of the 1920s and 1930s, debuted such famous tangos as Campadr6n
[Ladies Man] (Cadrcamo, 1927), Haragan [Wastrel] (M.
Romero, 1927), Yira. . .Yira (Discepolo, 1929), and Cambalache
(Discepolo, 1935).62 None of these tangos are womens tangos except

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

61

for Compadron which deals with a womans description of the

wasted life of a cornpadrito.6~While neither Yira.. .Yira nor
Cambalache are sex specific, the stated sense of frustration and
depression with the reality of the 1930s are indeed appropriate for
a female protagonist given the sex role of porter? women. Manolita
Poli introduced the Pascual Contursi tango Que lindoes estar
metido [How Wonderful It Is T o Be In Love] (1927) in a popular
theater production [sainete] of the same name.64 This is another
example of a female singing a male oriented tango with a negative
image of women (e.g. women as evil). It deals with a mans love
for a woman who has left him.
Que lindo es estar metido
y vivir pensando en ella,
palpitando que ella vuelva
[How wonderful it is to be in love
and live thinking about her
hoping that she will come back,. .]

Azucena Maizani further exemplifies the pattern of singing tangos

designed for male vocalists but with an ironic twist. Her most famous
tango, and one which has been described as her caballito de batalla
[signature song] was Se va la vida [Life Goes By] (1929).j5This
was written by a woman, Maria Luisa Carnelli, under the pseudonym
of Mario Castro. She also used the pen name of Luis Mario. This
tango is about a woman who has been lead astray.
Se va la vida
Se va y no vuelve. . .
Escucha este consejo:
si un bacan te promete acomodar,
entra derecho viejo.
Se va, pebeta. .
yo quiero, muchacha
que a1 fin mostres la hilacha
y a1 mishio recuerdo
le des un golpe de hacha.

[Life goes by
it goes and does not return..
take this advice;
if a dandy promises to take care of you,
keep your eyes open.

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Journal of Popular Culture

Life goes by my girl

I want, my girl
that when its over [the affair], you take
the thread of memory and chop it off.]

In 1928 Maisani made what was initially a failure in 1926 into

a popular tango. So popular, in fact, that Gardel wanted to record
it as well. This was the famous tango of Disc6polo Que Vachache?66
While this is not a womans tango, it is neither necessarily a mans
song.
Lo que hace falta es empacar mucha moneda,
vender el alma, rifar el corazon,
tirar la poca decencia que te queda. . .
Plata, plata, plata.. .plata otra vez.. .
Asi es posible que morfes todos 10s dias
tengas amigos, casa, nombre. . .y lo que queras vos
El verdadero amor se ahogo en la sopa;
la panza es reina y el dinero es Dios.
[All that is left is to hoard more money
sell your soul, pawn your heart
thrown out what little decency you have left
money, money, money. . .again money
Thus you can eat everyday
have friends, a home, a name.. .all that you want.
But-true love you drown in your soup;
the stomach is king and money is your God.]

While the above is not gender specific, other parts of the tango
however, clearly show that it is about a man: No te das cuenta
que sos un engrupido? [Dont you know that you are a fool?]
and gilito embanderado [you showy little dupe1.67 However, the
singer could be either man or a woman. Therefore, Gardel could
sing it as well as could Maizani.
Ada Falcon and Libertad Lamarque both sang tangos which were
written for men but could be sung by a woman such as Yira. . .Yira
and Cambalache. Falson would make Arrabalero [The guy from
the Suburbs] by E. Calvo (1927) famous. This tango is in fact a
song for a woman. It is about la pibeta mis rechiflada [the crazy
party girl] who is kept by un machito arrabalero de Puente Alsina
[a dandy from the suburbs near Puente Alsina]. It expressed fear of
a woman in an insecure relationshiF of being betrayed . . .como
hacen otros con sus mujeres68 [. . .as others do with their women].
Ada Falcon also sang Lo que nunca te diran [What They Will
Never Tell You] by Francisco Canaro (1931) which is definitely a

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

63

mans tango. In her rendition, she did not change the gender of the
nouns in the tango lyric to make them applicable to her as a woman.
It is a song of the illusion of love, it is about a man who is labeled
as a hombre perdido [a lost soul] and a Don Juan who spends
his time in bad company and his loves are mujeres de la otra vida
[woman of easy virt~eI.6~
Even when tangos are written by women such as in the case
of Maria Luisa Carnelli (b. 1900) they more often than not are non
gender specific (e.g. can be sung by either a man or a woman), or
present a woman in a negative sense, and always are in the context
of a mans world. For example, she wrote the Gardel standard Pal
cambalache [To the Pawnshop] (1929)which is about a man jilted
by a woman.O He sits along and looks about his room and sees things
about that make him remember his lost love. These things he will
take to the pawn shop [cambalache] and thus end it all, at least
symbolically. Further, the fact that Carnelli had to use a nome de
plum showed that a respectable woman would not be involved in
tango writing. A contemporary silent film clearly showed that, even
while tolerated by most social classes, the tango was still not accepted.
This film La borrachera del tango [The Drunken Frenzy of the
Tango] (1928) made the clear statement that . . .hogar, templo
santuario, amenazado por el virus implcable del tango? [ . . .home,
church, threatened by the implacable virus of the tango].
A contemporary of Carlos Gardel was Ignacio Corsini, el Galan
[The Gallant] or El caballero cantor, [the Gentleman Singer]
(1891-1967).In a recent survey of great tango artists which rated Carlos
Gardel as the all-time favorite, Ignacio Corsini was rated in the
top five great artists.72 Like Gardel, Corsini was born in Europe (Italy)
and emigrated to Argentina as a child of five. Also, like Gardel, his
father was unknown. Except for a brief time in the countryside,
most of his youth was spent in Almagro, a traditional neighborhood
of Buenos Aires. At the age of eighteen he began his theatrical career
(1909) and, as well, a long standing relationship with the famous
Podesta theatrical family. While Gardel was most known for his
cabaret work and later his films abroad, Corsini was most associated
with the popular theater (sainete and revistas). He, too, made films;
but all of these were Argentine in origin since he never left the country.
His career also included a long and popular radio career. He retired
from show business in 1948. Corsinis tango related career began
in 1922 in the theater production of El bailarin del cabaret [The
Cabaret Dancer] when he sang the tango Patotero sentimental
[The Sentimental Street Guy]. The tango lyricist and historian
c
of the tango, Francisco Garc;a Jimenez, would write of this event

64

Journal of Popular Culture

Romero (author of El bailarin) hizo una obra para Cesar Ratti

(plays star) y le result0 un tango para Corsini. Aquella Buenos Aires
tenia dos genuinos cantores de lo suyo, un morocho (Gardel); el otro
rubio (Corsini).73[Romero hoped to create a play for the star Cesar
Ratti, instead he created a tango for Corsini. The Buenos Aires of
that time now had two real singers it could claim as its own-one
dark, the other blond.] By 1924, Corsini was considered as a primer
galan [Leading Man] of the theater gendre of the sainete. His
image was enforced by his use of the smoking jacket as part of
his regular stage dre~s.7~
In 1927, Corsini starred in the production of Facha Tosta
[Shameless One] in which he sang the tango Caminito with
words by Coria Penaloza and the music by Juan de Dios Filiberto.75
Carlos Gardel was also in the same show. He was so impressed with
the Corsini rendition of Caminito that he would later grant Corsini
the great privilege of being able to record it for Odeon Records. Since
Gardel had already recorded it, and Odeon had exclusive rights, this
was a great favor and proof of his admiration for Corsinis
interpretation of this tango. Corsini was credited by Filbert0 as the
one who saved this tango from oblivion. It is now considered one
of the greatest tangos of all time.7j
From 1929 to the end of his active career, Corsini was a radio
star with regular appearances on all the major porte3o stations. He
was so popular that in 1936 he was voted Principe de la cancion
portena.77 [Prince of Porter0 Song] In 1938, he signed a twelve
month contract with Radio Belgrano which was renewed in 1939
for eight months at an even greater salary of 6,50O$m/n per month.78
By this time, he was at the zenith of his career.
Corsini was both a friend and admirer of Carlos Gardel. In
addition to the kindness offered Corsini by Gardel in the Caminito
incident, Gardel also openly recognized Corsinis talent on several
occasions both in Buenos Aires and in Montevideo.79 Corsini for his
part added his own prestige to the growing legend of Gardel. When
Corsini was voted Prince of PorteiGo Song he made the following
homage to Gardel:
Esta noche se escribe uno de 10s capitulos m&
brillantes de mi vida artistica. En este
cerumen se ha elegido a1 principe de la
cancio; porteza y no al sucesor de Carlos
Gardel, como se ha pretendido difundir. Las
mas puras emociones de nuestra cancio5 criolla
nacieron en la garganta y en el corazon de
Carlos Gardel. Creo un arte y sup0 mantenerlo

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

65

con el abrigo de sur voz. Yen aquella hora

,
tragica de su vida, se lo llevo consigo. . y
es a Carlos Gardel a quien me unieron veinte
anos de amistad sincera, a quien ofrezco estos
momentos, porque no veo en ellos el homenaje
a1 cantor, sino a la cancio; nuestra. . . y el
..
era nuestra cancion.80

[Tonight the high point of my career is being

written. In this contest a Prince of Porteno
Song has been elected and not the successor
to Carlos Gardel, as some have seemed to
imply. The purest expression of our creole
song tradition was born in the throat of
Carlos Gardel and in his heart. This art form
was born with him and by opening his mouth he
sustained it. In that tragic moment of his
life when destiny took him, he became that art
form. . . It is to Carlos Gardel, with whom I
was joined for over twenty years in deep
friendship, I dedicate my triumph as Prince
of Porteno Song because I do not feel this
honor granted to me is in homage to me, a
singer; instead, it is to our song
tradition. . .and Gardel was our song.]

Later in 1941, on the sixth anniversary of Gardels death, Corsini

publicly stated his clear admiration for Gardel during the official
commemorating ceremony, Gardel esta en cada pajaro cantor del
monte, de la sierra, del valle y de la pampa. Gardel no ha muerto.
Gardel es inmortal.*l [Gardel lives in the birds song in the
mountains, in the foothills, in the valleys and in the pampa. Gardel
is not dead. He is immortal.]
These two tango greats could be friends and admirers because
they did not compete. Instead they complemented each other. Gardel
el morocho and Corsini el galan had different styles and in some
senses different publics. Gardel was a man of the city while Corsini
unified the country tradition of the gaucho singer [payador] with
the urban tradition of the tango singer. While Corsinis repertoire,
in terms of recording, is fewer in number than Gardels, it is more
varied in musical forms. Corsini recorded seven hundred titles with
52 percent tangos to Gardels one thousand titles with 69 percent
tangos. Only 88 titles were recorded by both men. Of all the tangos
which Garden recorded which are considered to have comments critical
of Argentine socio-economic conditions such ad Pan, Guiseppe,
el zapotero [Guiseppe, the Shoemaker], and A1 pie de la Santa

66

Journal of Popular Culture

Cruz, Corsini only recorded Yira. . .Yira. Unlike Gardel, however,

Corsini did record in 1927one tango, Hipolito Yrigogen, by Enrique
P. Marconi, (1887-1957) which clearly identified him with the
political grouping of the personalist faction of UCR. Neither man
recorded Cambalache. Gardel bacause he died before its writing
and Corsini by choice. Corsinis tangos are characterized by their
sweet melodic romanticism.
Among his favorite composers were Carlos Vincente Geroni
Flores, especially during the period 1923- 1930, and Antonio Scatasso
who wrote mainly for sainete theatre in the 1920s. In addition, he
favored Enrique Delfino, born in and died in the same years as Corsini,
Juan de Dios Filiberto who was most famous for his composition
Caminito, and Manuel Jov&, the primary composer of the sainele
Patotero sentimental in 1922. Francisco Canaro, author of Yo
no se por que te quiero, [I Dont Know Why I Love You] in 1934
and Enrique Santos Discepolo who was most famous for his
composition Yira. . .Yira were also important Corsini composers.
Not withstanding his use of other composers, his favorite was Enrique
Maciel because Corsini recorded 39 tangos by this author.83In most
cases Corsini was a good friend of these composers and lyricists.
The basic difference between Carlos Gardel and Ignacio Corsini
was respectability. Gardel was unmarried, an avid aficionado of the
sport of kings, extravagant with lavish tastes in clothes and other
material things associated with wealth, and a man who cultivated
the image of a ladies man. In marked contrast Corsini was a family
man, faithful to his wife and a devoted father. The image projected
by Gardel was in the porter0 tradition of the malevo as exemplified
by his nickname el Morocho, while Corsini projected an image
of refinement in his el Galan. Together they project the two sides
of the urban image of Buenos Aires: The barrio [neighborhood]
with its bara [group] of young men, its cafelboliche [local barrestaurant], its particular image forged through tango clubs, sports
association (c.f. the soccer club of San Lorenzo de Almagro and its
hinchas or avid fans); and Florida as an example of the sophisticated
cosmopolitan suave street for the smart set. Corsini was a leadingman of theater, a singer of romantic and nostalgic songs on radio
while Gardel was a man of the people [la pleba]. No myth has
developed around Corsini, he lived a normal life and died a normal
circumstances. The tragic death of Gardel in 1935 seemed to spark
the imagination of the portego and Gardels fame grew. Both men
were very much of the epoch. Gardel el Morocho and Corsini el
Galan were the two sides of the portezo reality in the 1920s and
1930s.

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

Yo soy del Treinta*

(Hector Mendez)
Y o soy del treinta, you soy del treinta,
Cuando a Yrigoyen lo embalurdaron;
y o soy del treinta, yo soy del treinta,
cuando a Carlitos se lo llevaron.
Cuando a Corrientes me la ensancharon,
cuando la vida me hizo sentir;
y o soy del tiempo en que me ensenaron
las madrugadas lo que es sufrir
y desde entonces tuve de amigos
a Homero Manzi y Discepo1:n.

Y asi he vivido,sin claudicar,

a veces bien,
a veces ma],
Yo soy un cacho
de Buenos Aires
hecho a cortadas
y a diagonal.
Cuando la mano bien se apretaba,
cuando eran pocos 10s que fallaban ...
Y o soy del tiempo en que me ensenaron
Muino y Alippi lo que es vivir,
y desde entonces con ellos quiero
a Homero Manzi y Discepol&.
[Im of the Thirties]
[Im of the thirties, Im of the thirties
When Irigoyen was packed off;
Im of the thirties, Im of the thirties,
When Carlitos was carried off.
When Corrientes was widened,
When life made me feel;
Im of the time when I was taught in
the early hours of morning what i t is to
suffer,
and since then I had my friends
Homero Manzi and Discepolin.
Thus I have lived
without being devious
sometimes well,
sometime poorly,

67

68

Journal of Popular Culture

Im a piece
of Buenos Aires
made of shortstreets
and a diagonal.

When the hand is well-clasped,

When there were few who were lacking when needed
Im of the time when Muino and Alippi
taught me what it is to love,
and since then, with them, I have loved
Homero Manzi and Discepolin.]

Notes
Popular Culture as a Source for the Historian: Por que Carlos Gardel? T h e
Tango in the 1920s-1930s.Paper presented at the XXX annual meeting, Pacific Coast
Council on Latin American Studies, Los Angeles, October 19, 1984. Quote El ser
argentino.. . is from Republica Argentina, Senado de la nacion, El T a n g o y Gardel
(Buenos Aires, 1975), p. 120. Book was commissioned by the Argentine Congress
in homage to Gardel and written by Civente Leonides Saadi. See also Donald S.
Castro Popular Culture as a Source for the Historian: The Tango in its Era of
La Guardia Vieja, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture (Volume 3, 1984),
pp. 70-85. This article deals with the first stage of the tangos development, 18701917.
*The Gardel Discographic repertoire is taken from Carlos Gardel: A l b u m
homenaje en el X X V I I I aniversario de s u desaparacion (Buenos Aires: Odeon Records,
OLP #311, 1964).
3This statement is attributed to Enrique Santos Discepolo, noted tango lyricist
and contemporary to Contursi. Discepolo stated of Contursi, Es el hombre que llevo
el tango de 10s pies a la boca, as quoted in Francisco Garcia Jimenez Carlos Gardel
y su epoca, (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Corregidor, 1976), p. 175. Garcia Jimenez was
also a noted tango composer and lyricist. He too was a contemporary of Contursi,
as well as Discepolo and Gardel.
+Theissue of Juan Perons influence on the tango and popular culture in Argentina
will be discussed in the final paper by this author in the series on the tango.
5As quoted in Byron Silvestre, Los anos veinte, in Historia del tango (Buenos
Aires: Ediciones Corregidor, 1980),Vol. 6, pp. 823-825.
6Tango lyric in Gasper J. Astarita, Pascual Contursi, vida y obra (Buenos Aires:
Ediciones La capana, 1981),pp. 170-171.
For living conditions see Republica Argentina, Ministerio del Interior,

Departmento Nacional del Trabajo, Boletin del ano 1932, No. 21,
8Vincente Vasquez-Presendo, Crises y retraso: Argentina y la economia
international entre las dos guerras (Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitario de Buenos
Aires, 1978),p. 207.
9Ibid.

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

69

1OFor tango lyrics see Idea Vilarino, editor, Tangos (Buenos Aires: Centro Editor
de America Latina, 1981),2 Vols, Pal Cambalache, Vol. I, pp. 48-49; Te Fuiste,
Vol. I, pp. 56-57; and Jose Gobello, Jorge A. Bossio, editores, Tangos, letras, y
letristas, (Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra, 1979),El bulin, pp. 88-89.
For a discussion of the origins of the CGT see Hiroschi Matsushita, Mouimento
obrero argentino, 1930-1945: Sus proyecciones en 10s origenes del peronismo (Buenos
Aires: Ediciones Siglo Veinte, 1983).Chapter 11, pp. 53-76.
12La desocufiacion en la Republica Argentina en 1932, (Buenos Aires: Talleres
Graficos Compania Impressa Argentina, 1933),pp. 9-10,
l%asquez-Presendo, Crises y retraso, p. 199-201, See also L a desocupacion,
p. 96.
~4Vasquez-Presend0, Crises y retraso, p. 230
15Discepolotangos in Gobello, Tangos pp. 63-64 and pp. 65-66. Flores tango
in Idea Vilarino, Tangos Vol. 11, p. 24 Y i r a . . .Yira takes its name from the aimless
walking on a street prostitute.
?See Republica Argentina, Ministerio del Interior, Departmento Nacional del
Trabajo, Znuestigaciones Sociales, (1938), pp. 10-1 1, and Znuestigaciones Sociales
(1940),p. 41
17Computed by author. See also Republica Argentina, Misterio del Interior,
Departmento Nacional del Trabajo, Division de Estadistica, Estadistica de las huelgas,
( 1940)
*SeeVilarino, TangosJI-pp. 31-32
IgJoseGobello, Tangos, p. 58.
20For a photo history of these changes see Republica Argentina, Municipalidad
de la cuidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: Vision fotografica with photos by Horacio
Coppola and text by architect Albert0 Prebish and Ignacio B. Anzategue (Buenos
Aires: Editorial Atlantida, 1937).
21 Jose Gobello, Tangos, pp. 90-91
*2Ibid.,p. 53.
23BlasMatamoro, L a cuidad del tango: Tango historic0 y sociedad (Buenos Aires:
Editorial Galerna, 1969),p. 89. City ordinance of March 23, 1919.
*+Foran excellent description of the Cabaret and the folk types associated with
it see Manuel Galvez Nacha Regules (1919. The publication of this novel scandalized
polite Buenos Aires society and may have in part led to the March 23, 1919 ordinance.
Franchuta in porteno Spanish was equivalent to a whore from France or at least
a frenchified whore. Papusa is a slang term for a pretty girl (often a working
girl).
2 5 F ~ ar biography on Ignacio Corsini see Ignacio Corsini (hijo) Zgnacio Corsini,
mi padre Buenos Aires: Todo es Historia, 1959). For an autobiography on Julio
De Car0 see El tango en mis recuerdos: Su euolucion en la historia, (Buenos Aires:
Ediciones Centurion, N.D.).
26BlasMatamoro, p. 96.
27Ibid.
28Fora discussion on the development of electronic media see Castro, Por que
Carlos Gardel?
29Filmwas Tango, Argentine sonofilm, 1933.
SoCastro, op. cit.
311bid.
32Ibid.

70

Journal of Popular Culture

$3 Ibid.
34Historia det tango (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Corregidor, 1977-1985) 18 vols
to date.
s5Vilarino, Tangos, Vol. I, pp. 95-96.
36Gobello,Tangos,, p. 31.
SIbid, pp. 98-99
38Republica Argentina, Ministerio del Interior, Departmento Nacional del
Trabajo, Division Estadistica, Znvestigaciones especiales; Costa de uida, presupuestos
familiares, precios e articutos de primer neceszdad. Indices del costo de la uida, (Buenos
Aires, 1935),p. 18.
SYFigures drawn from various Argentine govermental sources and reports.
Particularly useful are the Znvestigaciones sociales series of the Departmento Nacional
del Trabajo and the results of the several surveys ordered by the Argentine Congress
in the early 1930s such as Republic Argentina, Ministerio del Interior, Departmento
Nacional del Trabajo. Instrucciones para realizar la inuestigacion del costo de la
vida en la poblacion obrera de la Capital Federal (August 28, I933), and Departmento
Nacional del Trabajo, La desocupacion en la Republica Argentina en 1932. Znforme
del iefe del censo nacional de la desocupacion. See also Boletin del departmento
Nacional del Trabajo December 1919-December 1941) Vols. 43-234.
40Gobell0, Tangos, pp. 115-1 16. Tango by Ivo Pelay.
41TangoGarconniere by Juan Caruso (1890-1931) in Vilarino, Tangos, Vol.
1, p. 40.
Wilarino, Tangos, Vol. I, pp. 34-35.
43Roberto Puertas Cruse, Psicopatologia del Tango (Buenos Aires: Editorial
Sophos, 1959), p. 49.
44Vilarin0, Tangos, Vol. I, p. 46.
45Gobello,Tangos, pp. 86-87
46Blas Matamoro, p. 147.
47Ibid, p. 149 See also Norbert0 Folino, Barcelo, Ruggierito y el populismo
oligarguico (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1983).TheZwi Migdal was purportedly
a Jewish benevolent society which in an investigation carried out in 1930 turned
out to be a white slavery ring.
48Vilarino, Tangos, Vol. 11, p. 18.
4QWrittenby Francisco Lomuto. Recorded by Ada Falcon in December 1930. Reissued on tape from original recording by EM1 #14198 on tape entitled Yo no se
que me han hecho tus ojos, (Buenos Aires, EMI-Odeon, n.d.).
5OJuan Silbido, Evocacion del tango, (Buenos Aires: Talleres Graficas Oeste, 1964),
pp. 248-49. Juan Silbido is pen name of Emilio J. Vattuone.
SIIbid., p. 251
521bid., p. 249
53Ibid.
Wbid.
55Based on authors count of records. See also Ignacio Corsini (h),Zgnacio Corsini,
mi padre, pp. 73-91; and, Silbido, Euocacion del tango, pp. 247-252.
56Estela Dos Santos, Las mujeres del tango (Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de America
Latina, 1972), pp. 23-24.
57Jose Barcia, Tangos, tangueros y tangocosas (Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra,
1976), p. 82.
58Silbido,Evocacion del tango, p . 252.

Popular Culture as a Source for the Historians

71

59Gobell0, Tangos, p p . 68-69.

6OEstela Dos Santos, Las mujeres, p. 18.
61Gobello, Tangos, p. 68.
62Based on authors review of tango literature in Gobello, Tangos.
GSIbid., p. 18
641bid.,p. 39
G51bid.,pp. 25-28.
66Ibid., p. 59.
67Ibid., p. 62
6*Ibid.,pp. 23-24
69Y~
no se que me han hecho tus ojos, (EM1 14198).
Tilarino, Tangos, Vol. I, p. 48.
?Historia del tango, Vol. 8, p. 1301.
7*El ranking del tango, resultados de la encuesta realizado por el Instituto
argentino de estudios sobre el tango, in Estudios det tango (Buenos Aires, JulyAugust, 1972), pp. 508-512.
73Francisco Garcia Jimenez, Asi nacieron 10s tangos (Buenos Aires: Editorial
Losada, 1965), p. 141. Book is a collection of 63 essays written on tangos which
were first published in El Dia [La Plata] as individual Saturday features in this
newspaper of the capital of Buenos Aires province.
?*Onthe cover of his biography written by his son, the elder Corsini is portrayed
in this fashion as well.
75Corsini(h), Ignacio Corsini, m i padre, p. 27.
Tbid., p. 47. As quoted by Corsinis son Fileberto said . . .La voz de Corsini
rescato a Caminito de entre 10s silbidos y gritos de protesta..
?IIbid., pp. 30-31.
Tbid.
Tbid., p. 56.
*OIbid.,p. 3 1.
BIbid., p. 56.
821bid.,p. 67. Also based on authors review of themes of Corsini records.
8SIbid.,pp. 40-52.
*4Vilarino,Tangos, Vol. 11, p. 88.