Tango: History on the periphery of Buenos Aires

Martín A. Biaggini
La Matanza September 2015 Made the deposit marked by Law 11.723. Printed in La Matanza
Buenos Aires - Argentina͞

Dibujo de Tapa: Grabado de Laura R. Aramendi.

ISBN: 978-987-1692-79-8

“In your neighborhood Villa Madero with illusions anchored my soulmelting pot, your
neighborhoodwith the star wake up and sing”.

“A mi barrio” (Tango) Norma Montenegro and Miguel A. Córdoba

Dedicated to the masters Antonio Maggio and Aminto Vidal.

 As a Prologue

The attempt to search for origins always places us in front of aobsession with details
that in most cases does not endconform ever. We feel frustrated and more than once
wetempt the pyromania to finish our investigation at the stake.Finally we continue, as
if by inertia, until an encounter,searched yes, but casual, it puts us on the road again.
It's true the100% is far, but in our attempt, we climb another step in theknowledge of
the final finding ... that never comes, but leaves us alittle closer and that justifies us.Our
young and vital historian, Martín Biaggini, mounted in Rocinantefrom a corner of
Madero, rush this time at the originslocal Tango, and starts from there from the banks
of the CapitalFederal, a city that in its womb at the end of the 19th century,it was a
combustion of a multiethnic society, which, according to Almafuerte:"It had ceased to
be and was not yet." Our peoples traditionsnative, colonial, patricians, gauchescos had
already ceased to beand the incredible "social boil" of the arrival of thousands of
immigrants, evenHe had not consolidated his final face.It is in the middle of that chaotic
elaboration that an expression is bornmusical that somehow accompanies and shapes
the porteños, andthat will conform to the cultural universe that has reachedour coasts,
and that permeates us without being a whole, that bymoments is an entertainment, it
is an instrument brought in an oldtrunk, is the memory of what was far transformed into
nostalgia,they are the improvised and tortuous beginnings and the need tosettle in and
find a place to express nostalgia andhope that will accompany you inexorably, and in
saying ofCarriego, “molerá lyrics de tango” and Buenos Aires neighborhoodsrecently
integrated to the Buenos Aires suburb.

In the twentieth century that city of Buenos Aires exudes its activity and itsarrabal and
the border of the brand new Federal Capital, begins toblur at its very edges. And
although the tango began inthose days to flourish in local elite Buenos Aires, mainlyIt
was grown in its suburbs and Martin has managed to find in neighborhoodsMatanzas
those expressions and their protagonists that maybe notThey appeared on the front
pages of the big newspapers, we had tofind it in stories heard in bars, cafes,
housesneighbors, neighborhood clubs.And the streets of Madero, Tapiales, La Tablada,
San Justo, Ramos Mejía,Casanova, Unsurpassed, Loma del Mirador, saw Martin in
thesearch for stories that honor us, belong to us and notwe knew ... maybe some and
only partly.I congratulate Martín for this work and surely the readers thatcome to this
post, they will start looking at their neighbors in adifferently, understanding that also,
around your house,live people who have made important contributions to tango
andpopular culture, to which the author intends to rescue from unjust oblivion.No
doubt by closing this book, after reading it, we will have uploaded astep in the
knowledge of the rich history of La Matanza, of thehand of a persevering author, also
our neighbor and that weHe brings his knowledge and his work. Congratulations Martin!

Adolfo “Fito” Correa, San Justo, May 2015.Center for Historical Studies of La Matanza
 Introduction: The emergence of Tango as a peripheral expression

Culture is an omnipresent dimension in relationshipssocial, in permanent construction,

with which society organizesits norms, regulates its experiences, orders its "present". But
noAll cultural practices are legitimized by society. Not allThey are "well seen." In an
unequal power relationship, a social grouphegemonically imposes a vision of reality on
the rest. TheCulture, Mustamente, is responsible for "legitimizing" practicesright, and
evidence the wrong ones. Given these mechanisms ofcontrol, cases against hegemonics
arise (deviation or rebellion beforeprevailing standards). Individuals who do not comply
with theconventions proposed and imposed by the hegemonic culture,they receive social
rejection, and become social outcasts.Thus, in a nation that was born forged by an
intellectual elite andpolicy, which needed not only to wire and delimit the
territory"National", but above all the "symbolic", before a melting pot of practices diverse
that made up its population (native peoples, blackslibertos, creoles, immigrants, etc.),
tango is born as a practicesuburban From the Gramscian perspective, this genre (which
does notIt only includes lyrics, but also music, own language, dance,ways of relating and
dressing) was part of its beginningswhich can be called a resistance practice, a struggle
fora mode of social reproduction in which many were at stakesenses.And it is notorious
to observe how, a cultural practice that, for purposesof the nineteenth century was
aMena to the "$ Nation Argentina" imagined by the80's generation, finished the
twentieth century will be an elementindisputable in the representation of identity of the
Argentine Nationcurrent.

Martin A. Biaggini
 Chapter I: La Matanza municipality

The Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires is one of the concentrationslargest urban areas
in the world, which is made up of the Cityof Buenos Aires and the surrounding parties in
the province of Buenos AiresAires. Among them, it stands out for its population density
and potentialindustrial, La Matanza Party, 325.71 km2 of surface and witha population
estimated according to the last census (2010) at 1,775,816population. According to its
political division, the Matanza party isconformed by 15 locations: San Justo (the main
city), Ramos Mejía, Ciudad Evita, La Tablada, Lomas del Mirador, CityMadero, Tapiales,
González Catán, Gregorio de Laferrere, RafaelCastillo, Villa Luzuriaga, Virrey del Pino,
Isidro Casanova and June 20. These, in turn, are made up of urban centers called
neighborhoods, whose conformation is spatial and not territorial, so noresponds to limits
imposed by the municipality in the form of ordinances, but for the very habitat of the
neighbors who appropriate thatspace1

Primitively the old payment of the Slaughter (until 1865 the game ofLa Matanza occupied
a territorial area of almost double thecurrent and his physiognomy was of purely rural
characteristics), he wasconformed by large tracts of land with agricultural
activitylivestock, inhabited by owner families, and whose workforcefocused on black Afro
population and native peoples that in itthey were included (with the different ethnic
mixtures that were produced)2. These large farms of colonial origin, the royal roads
andthe posts seemed to resist a "modern state" that was leavinggestating As of 1850
these great began to fragmentproperties, starting to appear smaller propertiesextension,
and therefore new owners and neighbors.

With the migratory waves of the late nineteenth century, they appearEuropean
immigrant farmers, who settle in the first cord. Already the twentieth century and until
1940, the migratory wavesEuropean (especially Italian and Spanish, and to a lesser
extentEastern Europeans), I set up a new population.

1
Gravano Ariel (2005), The neighborhood in social theory, Ed. Spaces, Buenos Aires.
eleven
2
3 Salas Adela (2006), The payment of the Slaughter, population and society 1700-1765,
Academia National History, Buenos Aires
During the Peronist governments, different neighbors of the provinces of theinterior,
they were installed in the area (La Rioja, Santiago del Estero, Chaco, etc.), reconfiguring
the Matanzas population again. During the 1960s to 1970s, the eradication plan of Villas
deEmergency, eradicates settlements of the Capital city, reinstalling them in the Matanza
party, thus giving rise to newneighborhoods.

During the last 30 years, the migratory waves of countriesbordering, I configure spaces
with a high amount of population of originPeruvian, Paraguayan and Bolivian.

It is an example to note that the old festivities of Italian origin (San Miguel Arcángel for
example), organized by the numerousintermediate entities of Italian-Argentine origin,
and which consisted ofmake a procession through the neighborhood of the patron saint,
was abandoned for the new generations, and today the practice is carried out by the
people Bolivian with the virgin of Copacabana3 .

In that same sense, to the party of the Slaughter, today configures a crucibleof diverse
cultural practices, inserted in a peripheral location tothe capital city, which configures a
dependency regarding theproduction and legitimation of cultural goods. Because of
hisdemographic, social and cultural complexity there is a confusing developmentof social
relations. This process far from belonging tocontemporary provocations, has a strong
roots in timesprecedents Among its complexities are the forms of integrationand
differentiation that are manifested through the conformation ofgroups or exclusion
through discrimination. The causes ofthese dynamics are composed of several variables
but one ofthe most explicit has to do with those that were provokedfor the conformation
of its demography through various processesSocial and economic. Since the early
twentieth century receiving european migrants going through the economic fluctuations
thatthey allowed the arrival first to Buenos Aires and then to La Matanza, of Argentine
citizens from various provinces to migrationsfrom members of neighboring countries.

European dogmas even when presented ashegemonic and are the dominant ones, in fact
considered as aof the root causes of racism and discrimination in the West, arecurrently

3
Biaggini Martin (2012), History of Villa Celina and neighboring neighborhoods, CELM,
Ramos Mejía.
part of one of the worldviews and that sharessymbolic spaces with those that are
dormantin the underlying elements of the Matanzas imaginary.

Chapter II - Tango arrives at La Matanza

Although there are several authors who addressed the issue of the origin of theTango,
and there are many theoretical discussions about it (which placeits origin not only in
different neighborhoods of the City of Buenos Aires,but also in different continents),
debate in which we are notconducive to enter, popular mythology locates this genesis in
the Patricios Park neighborhood:

“About some historical factssuch as the installation of "Burning the garbage" towardsend
of the century; I; and the emergence of the “Las cans” neighborhood in itssurroundings,
traditions and certain myths of origin have been built, among which the supposed birth of
tango in “losbrothels of the Las Latas neighborhood ”, according to the stories of
someneighbors ” 4

In that sense, the neighborhood of Parque de los Patricios has asone of its foundational
facts the installation of the municipal slaughterhousewithin its territory (the so-called
Slaughterhouses of the South or of theConvalescence), which begin to attract workers
and population: “They begin to work towards the end of the sixties of the centuryXIX and
remain active until the end of the century, when they aremoved west. Although, they
worked just over 30 yearsin the neighborhood, they deeply marked the identity of its
inhabitants, by becoming directly or indirectly the source of subsistenceof the inhabitants
of the area, since the killing activity isadded a large number of small subsidiary industries
(Factory of tallow, candles, bags, tanneries, etc.) ” 5

4
Thomasz Ana G. (2008), “Urban transformations in the southern sector of the
neighborhood Buenos Aires from Parque de los Patricios ”, Journal of Antropología
Iberoamericana, Vol.3, No. 3. Sep.-Dec.
5
Cosacov, Di Virgil, Gil, from Anso, Guevara, Imori, Menazzi, Ostuni, Perea, Perelman,
Ramos, Rodríguez, Paschkes, Ronis, Vitale, Neighborhoods to the south: Lugano, Soldati,
At the end of the 19th century, President Julio A. Roca and his viceFrancisco Madero
decide to move the municipal slaughterhouse until hiscurrent location, due to the high
degree of urban planning that had reachedthe area, and the inconvenience it caused. His
transfer, mobilized large number of factories, shops and workersrelated to this sector,
who were installing and givinglife like this to several of the neighborhoods of our party.

Caras y Caretas magazine put it this way: “It's about themoving of the entire population
rooted in the vast outline ofthe old pens ”6 .

But in that move not only came seberos, talabarteros andbutchers They also installed
with them their cultural practices and theircustoms: the "arrabalera" culture.

In that sense Marcelino S. Román explains: “With the troops ofcarts traveled guitars,
songs walked from one place toanother, there was the interpenetration of dynamic
elements of lifeCreole and popular culture through different means, urban andrural, but
with the logical predominance of peasant influence when most of the country resided in
the campaigns. By footprintThe voice of the payador was also on the wagons. ”

Our area was clearly payadoril, but immigration, theslaughterhouse relocation and
subsequent settlement of industries in thearea, and the urbanization that this entailed,
are displacing thepayador that began to approach the first tangos by the sets Typical
tango.

Ernesto Sábato says : “The millions of immigrantsthat rushed over this country in less than
a hundred years, not onlyengendered those two attributes of the new Argentine that are
theresentment and sadness but they prepared the advent ofSilver's most original
phenomenon: tango ”7

Thus, the twentieth century begins with the Municipal Slaughterhouse installed inLiniers
(today Mataderos neighborhood), and many of the old roadscolonial reconfigured as
ways of transport of cattle and cattle. This new commercial logic brings the appearance
of newpoles, which served as a stop, bars and general storerooms. According to Julián

VillaRiachuelo and Parque de los Patricios over time, Working documents No. 56,Gino
Germani Institute, 2011
6
Faces and Masks Magazine, No. 77, Year III, March 24, 1900. 16
7
Sábato Ernesto (1963), Tango, discussion and key, Losada, Buenos Aires
Carrera: “The places chosen to install the grocery storeThey seem to be those that are very
close to the meeting areas:chapels or oratories, crossroads, etc. ”8

This is how the existence of one of those stops at a crossing is reportedof roads, the “Sol
de Mayo” warehouse, in Villa Rebasa: “It was thereseros, the traditionalist essence, of
the Villa of yesteryear, those whomounted on brusty and equine painters, they boarded

from the Slaughterhouses to distant points (…) The Broad Street was for themthe
obligatory route, so much so that there were many people whoThey called that artery as
the Troop Road. Upon arriving atVilla Rebasa, they always stopped at the Café El Sol de
Mayo, becausethis place was the forced post (...) the hacienda spent the night in thepens,
while they, at the foot of the tin, tasted that cup ofstaple, and singing popular stanzas
camperas ”9 Very close there,we found another stop, the bar Anyulin: “ Díaz Vélez street
was then"Road of cows", pisadero, track of muleteers, road of troops.Every afternoon,
from two to four in the afternoon, the passage ofthe hacienda to the slaughterhouses.
The muleteers made their stop in abar and general bouquets called Anyulin, which is in
DiazVélez and Eva Perón. At those stops, the muleteers drank their drink,there were cards,
taba and guitar. In the afternoon they spent between three hundred andfive hundred
cattle that came from different parts of the West. (…) ”10 New sources of work occupied
by low social sectors,an incipient bourgeoisie that is shaping, new neighbors,
moreimmigrants, new neighborhoods and towns. Creoles, Italians, French.

8
May Carlos, Comp. (2000), Living on the border. The house, the diet, the grocery store,
the school, Ed. Biblos. Buenos Aires. 17
9
Pérez Luis (1972), History of Villa Rebasa, Author Ed., Villa Rebasa
10
Álvarez Francisco (1996), The Compiler. Own and close stories of Lomas del Lookout.
Year I, Nº1, Buenos Aires.
Warehouse of DonBelarminoVega, circa1930. On the wall posterannouncing a show
ofBandoneon playerAntonioMaggio

Chapter III Brothels

In our country, the volume of immigration, constant sincemid-nineteenth century until

the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century, It meant in demographic terms that
the Argentine populationIt will double every twenty years. In the national register,
according to the 1914 censusof INDEC, those born outside Argentina accounted for
30%of the total population of Argentina. The majority of these immigrantsthat were
distributed over the Pampas region were men whothey came to these lands in search of
better horizons and left intheir countries of origin their constituted homes or their
girlfriends. Thus, the need to create brothels, known as“Tolerance houses”, “lenocinio
house” or “public houses”, and it wasfor that work to French, Italian, Spanish, Polish
andUntil German.

This practice became so popular that it had to be regulated at the levelmunicipal,

demanding state control over them. Exampleof this the municipal decree of February 1,
1925. A year later,in January 1926, and according to ordinance 179, the installation of
"Houses of lenocinio" outside the barracks 1st and 2nd.According to said decree: “Art.
3rd its operation will be allowed to notshorter distance from each other, 1500 radial
meters, from theentrance door of each brothel and whenever requestedPermit there are
no establishments, less than 150 meters away, establishmentsof education recognized as
such, by the competent authority,asylums, hospitals, theaters or cinematographers
”.There were houses of tolerance in different parts of the party of theSlaughter,
intensifying its presence in the first three barracks,more urbanized areas and with greater
male population. According to Ordinance 195: “Grant yourself to Mrs. Goldstein Raquel
andViscuña Ana, permission for the installation of a tolerance house inBartolomé Miter
and Díaz Vélez streets, lots 1,2,3 and 4 that thepresent file ”. Thus, in the corner of the
current Av. General Paz and meters from Av.Crovara (Av. Campana and Av. Circunvalación
at that time, that is the twenty third quarter), one of these is installed at the beginning of
the 20th centuryestablishments, considered among the largest in the area. Thelocation
was not random, that corner was the intersection of the two tracksthat the muleteers
used to transport the cattle on foot to themunicipal slaughterhouses, or those of the
Tablada. Without skipping the amount ofworkers of the same and the numerous factories
of tallow gives thezone.The owners of these establishments, known as caften,
cafiolo,sosteneur, rufian, panzón or cafishio, according to the nomenclature of theAt the
time, they needed women as "testa ferro" because of the provisionslegal provisions: “So
the houses called public cannotestablish or regent but by women, provided that you
aretheir age and conditions give sufficient guarantees of being able to comply withthe
legal provisions ”11.

Ielpi Rafael and Zinni Héctor (1986), Prostitution and Ruffianism, Editions of the Flag,
11

Buenos Aires. twenty-one

In the La Matanza party, in Ordinance No. 328 of June1935 we can read: “Extend until
December 31, 1940 onterm of the concession agreed by Br. Deliberante Council on
5November 1932 with Mrs. Liva Borestein and Liva Mairoven for the exploitation of the
house of tolerance that they have installed in thePringles street and Av. General Paz, of
the 3rd quarter ”.Demand was higher than supply, and they were formed in those
placeslong lines of men waiting to meet theirneeds, so the owners of brothels, to avoid
thatcustomers got bored and left, hired groups of musicianstrios formed by guitar, violin
and flute - that enlivened the wait.They performed the known music of the moment:
tangos, polcas,Havana, gangs, waltzes and mazurcas.In his book "La Cueva del Chancho",
Geno Díaz wrote:“At that time Viequi wrote a lot as he said, and allowed himselfsome
luxuries like taking the bus on saturday nightsblue and black number 40 in Parque
Patricios, looking fora time of solace and recreation to the brothels of Campana
Avenue,next to the Soap factory (refers to Federal Soap) ”12

This place, according to witnesses, had numerous rooms inthose who exercised
prostitution, bar, grill, and a small theater inwhich, not only musical numbers were
offered, but also a show ofwomen and transvestites 13 .The author Julián Centeya, known
as “the gray man of Buenos Aires ”, in his lunfardo poem of his work“ Between prostitutes
andthieves ”, entitled“ Pity that goes alone ”, tells the arrival of hischaracter, from the
Mataderos area, to Crovara and General Paz:“(…) Done the diligence in the quilombo, I
left and walking I went toa bowling that was passing the police box, which was juston the
border between the province and capital. The chelibo was in alomita, going back to the
left, and to reach it, you had to climb someearth steps, there was palenque, look at what
time I speak to you ... ” 14

12
Díaz Geno (1982), La Cueva del Chancho, Editorial Galerna, Buenos Aires. 22
13
Interview conducted by the author, in Villa Madero, to Ismael Álvarez, in 1996
14
Centeya Julián, Between prostitutes and thieves, Azur sound editions.
Old Soap factory plantFederal on Av. Crovara and Av. GeneralPeace. Photo courtesy Del
Bene family.

For its correct operation, the municipality required the revision"pupils" periodically by a
competent physician (Article 13): "Thewomen who practice prostitution and are enabled
for it bythe municipal doctor, prior review must be registered, beforestart working in a
house, in a special register that will take theGeneral Inspection and the municipal doctor
that corresponds to the radio inthat the brothel be installed ”. (Article 14) “The pupils will
beunderwent a biweekly medical inspection and review… ”

For this purpose, the municipality acquires the lot of Blanco Encalada Street 942 for the
installation of a first aid room, which hadThe objective is the review of the prostitutes
mentioned. This room,After closing the brothel, it will serve as an annex to thePrimary
school No. 9 (which, like every ranch school, isit was in terrible building conditions), and
then it will host theSchool No. 49 Ricardo Gutiérrez (until today).

One of the groups that brought customers to the brothel, wasof line 55, managed by Don
Norberto Fonseca, immigrant Portuguese, arrived in 1925 that, after working as a
blacksmith, passed on1935 to the collective and in 1940 enters line No. 55, which in
thatthen it reached the corner of Federal Soap. The historianAdolfo Correa explains it like
this: “(…) by the year 40, he joins the line 55 in the brand new Chevrolet of the time. As
we see in the photo, the tour did not yet reach San Justo, it ended in Mataderos, inwhere
the chimney of Federal Soap can be seen in the background. Was zoneof workers, and
the occasional brothel, and those clients, They were also his passengers. 15”

The brothel had a large bar, grills, exercise roomsof prostitution and a central hall with
stage, in whichThey performed different musical and dancing shows. There not onlythe
muleteers and workers of the neighboring factories stopped butthey also became famous
large number of handsome andmalevos. These bars, added to the brothel formed a
circuit with their own codes, which often resolved their questions bymeans of violence,
leaving the occasional dead. These weregenerally deposited (for practical, hygiene, and
forcircumvent the law) in a passage that was “at hand” and was located inwhat is today
Bolivia Street between Crovara and Charlone. This passage,which was made up only of a
grove on both sides of thedirt road, it was the right place to get rid of these bodies,which
achieved that, over time, the place was known as “El calleMónof death".Waist Path also
possessed these characteristics when fallingthe curtain of the night:

“To take down a man

You never found a better place.

The Waist PathIt hides dark and auspicious ”16

Chapter IV Boliches and Bars

Being this zone place of passage to the interior, and later to theslaughterhouses, it was
logical that they were installed in different post points thatOver time they became
famous for their strategic location.One of the most remembered was the Posta del
Estanco de Montero, whichIt worked during the 19th century on Route 3, a few meters
from the roundabout ofSan Justo But with the arrival of the urbanization, the new lots

15
Correa Adolfo (2009), “Fonseca”, accessed at www.cehlam.com.ar (May, 2015)
16
Elías Carpena (1981), Fortín Matanza, Edited by the Rotary Club of Villa Madero.
andthe appearance of quinteros and brick kilns, and the installation ofslaughterhouses,
various positions were installed throughout theroads, which served not only as a
warehouse for general branches, butalso as a must stop for neighbors and travelers. The
cards,the alcohol, the game, the knife, set a single place: the bowling alley. In addition to
the posts and stops that began to be imposed, thenew urbanization brought the
appearance of new road crossings,New meeting points. While most, they stood on their
way tothe slaughterhouses, where the muleteers stopped to rest and drinkthe odd copita
(Campana Avenue, today Crovara, Av. General Paz, Av. Díaz Vélez, the road of Cintura and
Av. United Provinces,they were step by step of cattle that went to the Slaughterhouse),
they beganalso to install bars or bowls in the different social clubs andin front of meeting
places of the population (train stations, etc.).In the Tablada (place where the sheep
slaughterhouses were)We found the famous bar / warehouse "El Peligro". This was
locatedon the waist road (Danger Street) and Campana. Your ownerIt was Don José
Memeo.

Bar “El Peligro” by José Memeo, on the Waist Road. Photo V. Ochoa 28

Elías Carpena 18 wrote :

“Between San Justo and Tablada,

when passing through THE DANGER

the mounted policestop Marcos Ríos ”17

Neighbor Martha de Epis, neighbor of Av. Crovara, remembered the place: “Here there
were signs, and I saw Diego Fontanet, I saw them with shots,horse. They were bands (…)
At that time there was the alley of thedeath. It was a yuyal, there were corpses there
every day. Thesegunmen, they were my age, and Violeta Rivas's age (Ana MaríaAdinolfi),
in fact, he brides with one of them, with one thatThey said "Lecherito". They knew me,
and they were pure mafia (...) Theythey had a shelter, which is where Crovara and Waist
Road ends,which was called the Danger Bar ”18

Club Bar "El Ciclón". Villa Madero.

On the same Crovara (ex Campana, ex De las Tropillas) among theroads and the road of
Waist, was the post of "The Image" orof "The figure", a bowling alley named after the
image of the virgin thereit was. The place, which worked as a bar, bocce court(the oral

17
Carpena Elías (1971), Elías Carpena and the payment of the Slaughter, Secretary of
Culture of the Province of Buenos Aires
18
Interview with Marta Álvarez de Epis at her home on August 5, 2013. 29
story tells that Virulazo played there) and sale of articles inIn general, it was a point of
reference for the neighbors.

Post of "The Image" in Tablada. Photo. A. Enrique.

Then said artery will begin to develop and with it will appearNew bars and meeting places.
The neighbor Martha Alicia Álvarez, arrived at the Villa Insuperable neighborhood in
1940, explains: “ Here in front (Note: lives on Av. Crovara par hand) there was aBig bar,
and Don Luis who was the owner was tenor, he sang! TheSan Martin bar (later called
Carlos Gardel), waswhere then was the Province Bank (and now there are theChinese19).
That bar, I was always looking for my dad, there I livedVioleta Rivas, who was the daughter
of Don Luis. I have photos ofVioleta Rivas on my birthday. ” For his part, the neighbor
Roberto Vázquez adds: “The bar of Estevez, billiards, English step, that that was
clandestine. Was agame that was played, that in a minute you were a millionaire and
atNext minute you were in balls. It was for select people, special guests. Dice game. It
was clandestine, but itHe passed a little money to the commissioner. La Quintana Most
older people, Italians, stoppedThey played there Tute Cabrero, which was a very turkey
game, the gameit was taking you, or they had you all night dyingof thirst, or they made
you suck all the gin all, whichYou ended up with a fart, fainted. And it had a bocce court.

19
Note: Refers to the Chinese supermarket.
Then you had Siso's dairy, which was in Crovara andDominguez, next to Mauri Sport, was
a copetín in step ”20

Typical orchestra in Isidro Casanova, 1951.

Interview conducted by the author of Roberto Vázquez at his home, on August 16,
20

2013Friends
 Chapter V Tango in the family environment

On the other hand there was also tango in the family environment.In the newborn
neighborhoods, the first years, in the absence of classrooms andmeeting places, dances
were performed in tents orburlap enclosures, which were built in empty lots, ordirectly
on ranches with dirt floors, in which, when thedust began to rise, the dance stopped, the
track was wet withwater ... and continued dancing. Ismael Álvarez tells in his book:
“Between 1930 and 1935 a groupof neighbors resolve to make a great pilgrimage in
almost an apple wasteland between Erezcano and La Bajada streets, in front of the train
stationtrain. It was an event that attracted people from the town and townsneighbors. It
had great lighting, games of chance like those of theQuermeses, dance animated by
typical orchestra, bands, looseballoons, buffet. ”21 If legendary places like “La cueva del
pig” were bornon Av. Crovara (1927), “The ranch of the Cambicha”, in front of the
squareof Tapiales, among others. The institutions that appeared, inmostly sports and
recreational clubs, development societies, etc., performed large number of dances and
family gatherings, the which were enlivened by live orchestras, which largelythey were
triumphing in the radios of federal capital (remember thesocial importance that radio
occupied during the twentieth century until theTV appearance) and they toured the great
Buenos Aires. The neighboring Trinidad Yañez, of Villa Madero, remembered: “The
dancesThey were in the Sarmiento Hall. I had to go with two pairs of shoes, when it rained
I wore a pair of shoes and then changed thembecause if the living room floor didn't get
dirty and we had to dance ”22 For her part, singer América Marble adds: “It was a
Salonlarge, with a wooden floor, beautiful mirrors, armchairs, chairs,scenarios When the
dances were done, in the past, there was nodances every day, it was Saturday and
Sunday. And when they said there areDance on a Saturday, it was a gala performance.
The girl keptthe suit to go to the dance, I didn't wear it every day ”23
Thus, local orchestras were formed in each neighborhood, sinceit was common in those
times that some family memberwill devote to the study of music whether guitar,
bandoneon, etc.These musicians, were grouped and formed typical orchestras thatThey
promoted tango in all Matanzas neighborhoods and gave rise toSo to great dancers,
singers and musicians.

21
Èlvarez Ismael (1999), “From the wagons to the railroad, From Villa Circunvalación to
Villa Madero ”, author's edition, Villa Madero
22
Interview conducted by the author to Trinidad Yañez in 1998
23
Author's interview with América Marmol on June 14, 1999
 Advertising dance Club Los Muchachos. Villa Madero.Carnival Dance Club Madero
Central. Villa Madero

This is explained by Ismael Álvarez: “From the beginning of the town, thedance was with
him through his young neighbors especially thoseGómez brothers, Fernández, the Veglio,
the Brunetti, the Yañez,Palaces, Novelli, Carlos Rolando, the Bettiga, Barreiro,
Marchisotti. Inthe time of the 20 Matías Yáñez an elegant dancer, made him equal to
Carlos Gardel, with his knees slightly bent, with eleganceand typical grace of the Buenos
Aires of that time (…) When manyboys of that time we were leaving the dance because
the yearsthey were many and they played their role, to withdraw from the evenings of
theSaturdays or Sunday dances, lounges or parties or somefamily dance or any party
features of small town, appearsa young man who dressed simply but neatly, lustrous
footwear(characteristic of the dancer), the knot of the tie tight, in shortthe prototype of
the little dancer, I mean Víctor Núñez ”24
The clubs hired tango numbers for dances (whichthey were performed with live
orchestra) and mainly forcarnivals The contracted numbers signed a contract with
theinstitution, in which the amount receivable and the percentages were
establishedabout earnings (when the artist had a reputation in the media). TheMatanzas
populations, not only attended these shows, butthey were attentive to which club or
institution performed the dances betterorganized or with outstanding artistic numbers.

24
Èlvarez Ismael (1999), “From the wagons to the railroad, from Villa Circunvalación to
Villa Madero ”, author's edition, Villa Madero
These eventscategorized the institutions achieving fierce competition betweenthem, by
the call of greater amount of people.

Mr. Felix Brunetti, M. Franza and P. Veglio dancing at a family party. (Photo courtesy Olga
Brunetti)

The musician Aminto Vidal, remembers it like this: “When I met him, heLos Muchachos
club was a big track, in which people had tobring the table and chair, and the place was
great, but it wastight. We played and it was full full. Me when I finish doingthe nine dances
we did ... what a feeling I have now!having done all this, in an institution that I loved very
much ”25

América Marmol and the guitarists “Hnos. Naples".

In these dances neighbors and couples met to dance orSimply to relate. One of the
dancers who gave histango first steps at a carnival in your neighborhood when you
barelyHe had turned 12, his name was Jorge Martín Orcaizaguirre, but thanks to being a
great bocce player he was nicknamed and knownlike Virulazo. At 18 he looked on the
club tracksDefenders of the Tablada, Tapiales Youth, Almafuerte and NuevaChicagoIn
1988 with music by Raúl Garello and lyrics by Horacio Ferrer, Tango HomenaMe is born
to Virulazo "Che, gomina":"Satan begat him for a dancerand a hellish pintun
accommodated him, how was born engominaothose in your zinc neighborhoodThey
named him Gomina, no more. ”As we can read in the newspaper "Tribuna Popular",
GardelI would have frequented the city of San Justo when I barely owned 21years old: “In
the times when I was hardly a singer of famein his neighborhood of Abasto, with just 21
years old, he was invited to San Justoby Delmiro Santamaría, owner of a still life. In those
times, the passengers came by train to Ramos Mejía and in a car they were brought to
San Justo. They did serenades at night and everythingit ended with a pot in the house of
Santamaría 27 ”Another tango that stood out, Manuel O. Campoamor, author ofbig hits

25
Interview with Aminto Vidal, at his home on April 7, 2004
like: "My captain", "La flannel", and "Gallo viejo", betweenothers, lived in La Matanza and
had the job of being head of the tableMunicipal Administration tickets.If we talk about
San Justo, we can't stop naming thepoet and educator Pedro Palacios "$ lmafuerte", who
wrote"Milongas Buenos Aires", and was the author of the verses that gave lyrics to aof
the first songs of the Gardel ± Razzano duo “A my mother”:“With the friends that gold
produced for me,the hours with eagerness passed me,and from my bag, the powerful
influence;everyone enjoyed splendid luxury.

Antonio Maggio and his typical.

but my mother, no. ”Gardel, had also recorded Colombian tangosCarasquilla Mallarino,
who lived and died in San Justo.Gardel and Corsini, interpreted their tangos several times
in theTablada and San Justo clubs.In Villa Madero, at the corner of Caaguazu streets
andPaunero, lived the composer Carlos $ Costa, author of tangos like “DosFingers ”and“
$ l kid I have it ”:“What I'm going to tell you, I know you don't care about anything,but I
know that one day you will think about this:You are surrounded by luxuries of jewelry and
a thousand flocksYou lost everything when you left home.They made you dizzy with the
luxury that I couldn't offer you,because when you left my house, you forgot the bestyou
can bathe in gold, may luck help you,but to the kid, che fayuta, to the kid I have it! ”On
the other hand, Alfonso Jesús Duran, better known as Jorge“Ropero” Duran, born in
1924, excellent popular singer, stoppedexist in the city of Ramos Mejía, in 1989, following
an emphysemapulmonary.
 Chapter VI THE MALEVO MUÑOZ

Carlos Muñoz and Pérez, the Malevo Muñoz, or Carlos de la Púaas he himself preferred
to be called on the cover of his book “La crenchagreased ”, is the author of the maximum
work of lunfardo. Enrique Cadicamo wrote about this author:
“Gomia del malandra, you despise the yuta,
your poetry is the rante and sharp garlopa
brushing on the sandalwood of the lopa
museto give us his florid and curly shavings ”

In his poetic book, he not only paints scenes and places of the Buenos Aires of yesteryear,
it also illustrates the life of malevos, whores and Typical characters from the street and
bars. One of them, Langalay, ended his days in the Villa Madero.

“Langalay - Carlos de la Púa

”He lived sharpening courage.
Overbearing and goatherd,
He liked to classify the points of the reaje,
And to those who didn't know how to beatI put them zero.
I knew the saint and the sign of the cuchiyo,
I wore high heelsAnd spit on the fang.
Of the cogote, like an asclepius,
He hung a medical record Breakdown(To the neighborhood of the Frogs he shook with
his macaws).
Today, progress pushed him to Villa Madero.
A mine with a court I take the shavings from Cabrero
And the love for the son made him abate.
De La Pua Carlos “With the oiled crencha”, Corregidor, Buenos Aires.
We can read in the book "El tango a través del tiempo” by author Jorge SARELI, the
adventures of Langalay:
“By 1880 Buenos Aires was a large village that boastedCosmopolitan city, of South
American Paris, of Latin New York. Theshores inhabited by poor people and frequented
by thugs,They were in places that today are considered pure center. Cars and flatThey
arrive from the interior and stop at the squares and surroundings. Carsand quarterers
camp in the neighborhoods of fun places; betweenarrival and departure there are rest
days that fill with mate, dance andChinese Brothels and grocery stores are frequented by
them and by peopleof failure: men willing to do everything, thugs,
bodyguards,"quadrera" runners, sailors, soldiers, guitar players, ChineseCuarteleras and
of the others, all the brown and to the gringada. In theMiserere Square stopped the
bustling carts of Langalay. Thecarters wore shorts and wore embroidered espadrilles
thatThey adorned with large red ribbons. They used to sing splendid compadrada that
they composed, or that someone composed inits place. They sang it with a milonga
rhythm and said like this:
"I'm a Customs cart,
of the Troop and Langalay;
I have a flat tail
He just needs to talk.
In the Corsican of flowers
They didn't let her dent
because I fixed my flatthe prize
was going to be won. ”

Chapter VII The Tangos of La Matanza

Several tango players chose the Matanza party, their neighborhoodsor his characters to
be inspired when composing or writing aletter. This is how several tangos name party
places, orthey are simply dedicated exclusively to him (El tango Tablada, to which Canaro
put music, was written by Oscar Corvalan, asinger who lived in this city ).
While there were several tangueros who wrote about theMatanza, the most outstanding
author was Amintor Matías Vidal (hisstage name was Aminto Vidal). The Vidal family was
originally fromParque de los Patricios, like tango itself, and therefore, the cousins ofthe
family began to relate to this genre: his cousin JorgeVidal was a singer, his brothers
Domingo Antonio, bandoneon player, Héctor (who used the artistic surname Rosales)
was a singer, and Robertocomposer. Aminto as a boy based in Villa Madero and then in
Ramos Mejía, dedicated much of his life to remember in his tangos to yours tangos to La
Matanza.
Aminto Vidal explained: “I lived in my grandfather's house, which wasone block from the
Boys Club, there lived my grandfather, the old man Matías Vidal, the old man was Chilean.
One of his sons, Jorge's fatherVidal, was born in Mendoza, until he finally went to live in
Log. And he told my father on one occasion, to come and live to Madero, and my old
man, who was retired from the police, went to live inLog".
Aminto, who will succeed as a composer and pianist indifferent radio resources of Capital
Federal, met the stardomwhen any of his tangos would be recorded among others by
OsvaldoPugliese.
This is explained by the musician: “I charged money, and told my old manand my old lady,
don't forget that I have to buy the piano. I hadA piano teacher, I had a lot of time studying.
Studiedharmony, counterpoint, all those things that are important in themusic, and then
it occurred to me to form a set. We start toWork in the neighborhoods. Then one
appeared, and said, if you wantI make you enter a radio. They won't pay you ...
I spoke to my old man, I said, look dad, this happens to me, this man hasan audition and
he wants us to go there and he is paying for it, andThey need help. And my old man said:
Yes, I help him, I give him 50%and whoever passes the advertisements he has. That way
we were inRadio. I looked for the good musicians I had, and Osvaldo Rizzo, Pichuquito,
was 14 years old, but previously there was Baffa, whoThen he left with Troilo. Pichuquito
was working with me for a year and a half two, then whatI call Héctor Varela ”26
Over time, the composer began to dedicate a tango toeach Matanzas locality: “Well we
have a lot of areas, and oftrue that I have always referred to all areas and made aTango
for them. That's why I have here in La Matanza, around 25issues that have to do with the
towns of La Matanza. Where II have gone to work with my team ”

- “A Villa Madero”(Tango, 1956, lyrics and music Aminto Vidal)

The first tango that Mr. Vidal composed for the match of theMatanza, would be "A Villa
Madero", recorded in the RCA Victor, whichIt has its origin in a terrible murder in the
corner of the club"The Boys." That day, Aminto had come to visit the club ofhis childhood,
and found it closed by mourning. When did you hear about thePepe Vidal's death (a
childhood friend), was inspired and in aclub table wrote the first verses of the letter that

26
Interview with Aminto Vidal, at his home, on April 7, 2004
laterIt would give life to tango."A Villa Madero" was auditioned, sponsored by theCasa
Gervasio Pérez, and its presenter was Tito Sobral. The program,led by the tango Aminto
Vidal, it was broadcast on Radio del Puebloin the 1950s

A Villa Madero (Tango 1956)

Primera parte
Cuando era un purretito vagué por tus calles
Llevando la aventura y el ansia de jugar,
Y ya por la mañana o al caer la tarde
Era mi único norte, andar y siempre andar.
Me acuerdo de la barra que siempre se juntaba,
Los hermanos Novelli, Mingo, Ernesto y Carlín.
Rodera, Alberio, Pepe, que tanto la gastaba
Y otros tantos muchachos con ansias de vivir.

Segunda parte
Villa Madero, barrio de mi niñez.
Villa Madero, hoy a ti vuelvo otra vez.
Villa Madero, que gaucho y lindo sos.
Aunque cambié de sendero
Siempre estarás, mi Madero
Metido en mi corazón.

Primera parte (bis)

Callecita de tierra, tú también has partido
El progreso imponente su zarpazo te dio.
Pero aún queda en mi alma tu recuerdo querido
Y el chamuyo sagrado de mi fiel corazón.
Hoy, de nuevo aquí estoy transitando tus calles
Yo te juro Madero, me causó un alegrón.
De tus cuatro casitas sin causarte un agravio
Hoy ya sos la ciudad que tu gente añoró´.

(Tango, grabado en 2004, Letra y música Aminto Vidal)

Entrevistando al compositor Don Aminto Vidal en su casa de Ramos Mejía, luego de un

café y una charla extensa que recorrió cada pueblo de la Matanza con sus anécdotas,
sus poemas y sus tangos ejecutados por Aminto en su piano, él mismo nos confesó que
de todos los tangos que había compuesto para el partido de la Matanza, uno de ellos, el
tango “A Tapiales” no había sido grabado nunca.
Escuchado esto, propusimos al tanguero grabar este tango para así tener ya todos los
tangos dedicados a la Matanza grabados. Así fue como convocamos al bandoneonista
Antonio Maggio, de jóvenes 94 años, al mismo Aminto Vidal de 89 en piano, al violinista
Gilberto Dougur (primer violinista del Teatro Colon ya jubilado), a Leandro Zapino un
joven contrabajista revelación de la zona, y la voz de Horacio Fitenco para la grabación y
filmación del tema “A Tapiales” que conformó la presentación del documental que lleva
ese nombre.
“Sueño viejo Tapiales… con tus noches hermosas…
Al compás de la brisa... Matizando el rosal...
Y tus pibas paseando... Por tus calles floridas...
Junto con los muchachos... En un mismo soñar...
Por eso que en mi verso... Te recuerdo Tapiales...
Tomados de la mano.. Con mi dulce ilusión..
De brindarte en un tango... Acercando a tu luna...
Un jardín... De esperanzas y una fuente de amor...

Segunda parte
Tapiales.... En las noches... De tus tangos... Tapiales... En tus bailes... De color...
Tapiales..... Tengo un recuerdo prendido... De aquellas barras de amigos... Que
bailaban... Con pasión... Tapiales... Barrio lindo... Es mi desvelo... De brindar... Pronto en
tu cielo... Del rosal... De mis anhelos... Un tango... Para tu arrabal...
Primera parte (bis) Cuántas veces... En el tren... He viajado a tus lares... Con el ansia que
lleva... Enancada ilusión... Y al andar caminando... Por tus calles Tapiales... Ya se aspira el
perfume... De jazmín o malvón... Y acercando a la plaza... Ya se siente el bullicio... De tus
noches de fiesta... Que brindó un gran campeón...
Miguel Ángel Pendola... Que del box... Fue un guapo... Flor de muestra... Tapiales... De
tu tierra... Un varón...´
Letra y música: Aminto Vidal

“Mi linda Ramos Mejia” (fragmento)

Tango 1985 letra y música: Aminto Vidal

“Las estrellas que titilan en la noche

se parecen a tu espacio nocturnal.
De boliches de jolgorio y de citas
Que se dan en tu mundo casi irreal.
Mientras tanto la ciudad se muestra altiva
Con su estampa de cemento y de piolin
Tardecita... y un andar por tu avenida
Cena y baile, lso amigos y un latir”

Vals 1985 “A Lomas del Mirador” (fragmento)

“Aquellas serenatas felices en la Loma
Junto a las madreselvas, la briza y el malvón
me trae el recuerdo que hoy surge en mi memoria.
Como para olvidarte, Lomas del Mirador.
La barra de muchachos bailando en la esperanza.
En provincias Unidas o en Sargento Cabral.
En las noches de sábado que alegres se juntaban.
Contnado justo el mango para ir a milonguear”

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