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The lyrics of the Argentine Tango have chronicled periods
of time along the base line of evolution of the city of Buenos
Aires and its inhabitants. Before it became a city, Buenos
Aires was a large village where the descendants of the Spanish
settlers lived with their eyes facing Europe and their backs
to the vast continent of which Buenos Aires was a port of
call for merchant ships. From around 1880 and on, a massive wave
of immigration swelled the population of the city with a
vast majority of lonely men. These men who came lured by
the promise of land and jobs, found themselves stranded around the
outskirts of the city and faced with the reality of having to survive.
The contrast between the well to do and the destitute
was highlighted by the flourishing prostitution business
that catered to the mostly male population. To have the means to
live well became a major goal. Holding a menial job was not a way
to meet those goals. Owning a woman capable of earning a good living
at a brothel became a status symbol of sorts. In general, the Tango
lyrics as a whole, have roots in a medieval religious concept
that had considered women as diabolical creatures whose purpose
was to incite the men to sin in sexual ways.
This belief resulted in an antagonistic conception of the human
roles where immoral women disdained and disregarded men's efforts
and betrayed them through infidelity. After 1910, the contents of
the lyrics began to show a sign of tolerance, comprehension and
even justification for the perceived flaws of the women. Gradually,
as the medieval roots began to disappear, the protagonists of the
Tango lyrics, mostly flesh peddlers in love, began to accept
the very awful misfortunes caused by woman's infidelity. That led
to the stage where they also accepted the versatility of the sexual
activities of women, because of their own need to satisfy a physiological
and psychological need for possession.
By 1920, the male writers and singers had begun to reflect a certain
lack of interest in spiritual and material self-improvement. This
was the result of an economical, social and political set of conditions
established by a ruling elite on a society where the distribution
of wealth was limited to a privileged few. In the context of the
Tango world, the rich and powerful used their status to lure
decent women from their humble abodes into a life of sin
and excesses. Along the way, the Tango lyrics have casually
been labeled sad and summarily dismissed as interfering with
our dancing joy. This has mainly come from outside Buenos
Aires where there are major cultural and linguistic differences
that only allow people to see just the tip of the iceberg.
Most historians agree that the Tango lyrics as a whole, reflect
a condemnation by the working class, of the ethical, judicial, religious,
cultural and political norms and canons of a bourgeoisie society.
A fact not too uncommon around the world.
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(courtesy planet-tango.com)
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