Compadrito

Compadrito, one of the most colorful figures in Argentine literature and music of the early twentieth century, the flashy urban dandy mentioned in tango lyrics. Usually of lower-class origin, the compadrito was familiar with the language and habits of the denizens of la mala vida, the easy—and often criminal—life of Buenos Aires. He rarely had a job, often bragged about exploits in which he had never participated, and tried to dress as if he were affluent.

Many Argentine intellectuals identify the compadrito as emblematic of the deleterious consequences of the urban transformation that made Buenos Aires unique. There, men no longer dressed as gauchos (cowboys) but instead put brilliantine on their hair, dangled cigarettes from their lips, wore hats that obscured their eyes, donned flashy scarves, and wore shoes with thick heels. This uniform separated these urban men from their rural counterparts and indicated their integration into a Europeanized modern city. The compadrito's female counterpart was the dance-hall girl, often a prostitute. To middle- and upper-class critics of lower-class culture both social types were considered immoral. In fact, what the compadrito and the music-hall girl represented was the most marginal, yet visible, group of lower-class inhabitants: those who responded to the poverty and lack of well-paid work in Buenos Aires by turning to more remunerative, but less socially acceptable, activities. The different types of tango styles also revealed diverse and changing images of the compadrito and gender relations. In the ruffianesque, an aggressive style tango, the compadrito typically deceived and successfully seduced women. Yet, the romantic style tango portrays the compadrito encountering more independent women who are able to choose their companion.

See alsoMusic: Popular Music and Dance; Tango.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrés M. Carretero, El compadrito y el tango (1964).

Jorge Luís Borges and Silvina Bullrich, El compadrito: Su destino, sus barrios, su música (1968).

Fernando Guibert, The Argentine Compadrito, translated by Eric Gibson (1968).

Additional Bibliography

Collier, Simon, Artemis Cooper, Maria Susana Azzi, and Richard Martin. Tango! The Dance, the Song, the Story. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995.

Lamas, Hugo and Enrique Binda. El tango en la sociedad porteña, 1880–1920. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998.

Savigliano, Marta E. Tango and the Political Economy of Passion. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.

                                         Donna J. Guy