The white palatial Teatro Solís in central Montevideo has opened its doors for an exposition of the finest Milonga dancers from around. A dramatic recording is played to unleash the passionate dance of a caballero and his dama in the center spotlight. They are dancing an elaborate, quick-paced form of tango, their countenances touching and their legs intertwined. Inside the opera house the atmosphere is of high culture, pure art, talent, and love. Yet nestled deep in the lyrics of the tango standards an entirely different mood subsists. Many of the seemingly poetic words even originate from jail cell conversations, where a vocabulary was created to keep secrets from the guards.
This sometimes foul way of speaking called lunfardo is originally from Buenos Aires where it received heavy influence from Italian and mafia immigrants before becoming the main jargon of opposition to traditional Spanish. After mixing in words from the Plata River’s rural surroundings, the lower classes began to adopt this way of speaking in the early 20th century. And this particular lower class, coincidentally, partying in their candlelit taverns, was the same that introduced tango to the world. Fast forward to 1928 when Argentine singer Enrique Discépolo rises to prominence and tango lyrics laden with lunfardo begin to appear. A few of his masterpieces can now be examined for their linguistic richness.
In his song Victoria the narrator is comically thankful for a breakup. He begins with “Saraca”, an exclamation of joy, and then “Pianté de la Noria”. “Pianté” means “I escaped” obviously a lunfardo jail term and “de la Noria” means “from the horse mill” demonstrative of how strenuous it was for the narrator to be with his former girlfriend. The expressive phrase “me saltaron las tapones” , while literally “my fuses have jumped” expresses his amazement. The song closes with “Me da tristeza el panete, chicato inocente que se la llevó… ¡Cuando desate el paquete y manye que se ensartó!” which reveals several lunfardo words. These include “panete” (fool) and “chicato” (short-sighted) to describe the man who stole his girlfriend, because when he opens the package he will “manye” (realize) what has stabbed him. “Manye” comes from “mangiare” in Italian meaning “to eat”, just one example of the many “marinero” terms, or those from Europe (because they arrived by ship).
And before the ladies and gentlemen exit the milonga exhibition at the Teatro Solís, one more Discépolo song will be danced to; this one is called Chorra meaning “thief” in lunfardo. Again the girlfriend is the unexpected subject of resentment. The narrator addresses her saying you left me sitting in a tree” and “me afanaste” (you robbed me) even of my color. He continues to relate that now women scare him so much that if a “mina” (young woman from Italian “femmina”) “me afila” (flirts with [him]) in the street he would stand next to a “botón” (cop). He acknowledges that he was “gil” (stupid) and she cost him ten years of patience and “yugar” (work). He ends accusing her parents of being “chorros” too. Besides the words mentioned, there is a littering of prison related words including “cana” for prison, “cachiporra” (weapon) and “malandrín” (delinquent).
Not all songs equate women with prison but learning about lunfardo provides background for idle listeners of tango that believe only flowery Castillian words are being sung. This does not take away from the intense passion present in the dance that has so marked Buenos Aires and Uruguay. The word “Minas” was brought into everyday speech but normally the jargon is part of a sub-culture. Just like “el vesre” which consists of putting the ends of words at the beginning to make speech even more incomprehensible. In conclusion, this vocabulary should not be attempted by learners of Spanish, if they are afraid of confusing everything they ever learned. Or maybe they want to write tango melodies for Milonga exhibitions, they’re might be “good money in that line of work” or “mucha chala en este yugar” (lunfardo).
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