TANGO AS A PIECE OF LIFE: ANALYSIS OF LUNFARDO IMAGES IN TANGO LYRICS

Abstract

Tango in 2009 was declared as UNESCO cultural heritage, and one might think that this field was intensively studied by specialists in different fields. Few researchers have addressed seriously the topic of tango lyrics. The present study examines the images created by lunfardo terms in tango lyrics and the connection between tango lyrics and lunfardo. Lunfardo is an Argentinean jargon which was born during the process of immigration to Argentina in the end of XIX – beginning of XX centuries. The quantitative part of a mixed-methods analysis was based on word counting and classifying. The analyzed study corpus was a 101 popular tango song written in the period from 1917 to 1951. The qualitative part of the research comprised identification of the main images created by lunfardo terms and explanation of the role of some particular words in these images construction. Six main images created by lunfardo terms in tango lyrics emerged: bacán(a) (“wealthy man/woman”); milonguera (“fallen woman”, literally “dancer employed at places of nightlife entertainment”); mishiadura (“poverty”); gotán (“tango”); percanta (“beloved woman”); metejón (“falling in love”). The main conclusion is that lunfardo was an effective instrument of the creation of images used by tango poets primarily in the 1920s and 1930s. More than 50% of the analyzed songs had at least one lunfardo term. Future research can be a comparison of lunfardo terms usage in tango lyrics and national Argentinean rock.