3011  The gauchos and tango

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 09:41:27 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: The gauchos and tango

Dear listeros and listeras

In this site you will find information about the gauchos, the "cowboys" of the argentine prairies.

https://www.soygaucho.com/english/accesorapido.html

Many of the words and idioms used in tangos are related to this people, that is still a part of the argentine culture , however not so multitudionous in their habits , dressing and presence in the everyday life of Buenos Aires , a city that is now definitely urban .

The word gaucho came from native idiom quechua "huachu" that means orphan, with no parents.

To list four essential things that the gauchos brought to the tango culture we have to mention

- the guitar , originally from the spanish guitar of six strings , with some local use that alternate the "soft" sounds of the 1-2-3 strings with the "grave" sounds of the 4-5-6 strings . To play the grave string was called "bordonear" , since "bordona" was the name of the grave sound string. The bandoneonist Ruggiero made a tango " Bordoneo y 900" where he mix the sounds from the old stile , the "bordoneo" with the "900" style , a lighter sound. This tango was used with an arrangement of Mosalini , for a short animation from Disney , "Lorenzo" , already commented in this list. By the way, Lorenzo, is the name of a tango also :)

- the horse , that came from the suburban areas as a tool for work, changing into a subject of races , in tangos such as a "Por una cabeza", "Palermo"

- the knife , that was also a tool for the gaucho at their work , changed into a weapon when they melted into the urban area . To talk about the knife , their types, how they were reshaped , will be a lot to include in this posting. Is interesting however that one of the words in lunfardo used for knife is -"fiyo" that came from the portuguese " filho" meaning "son" , a clear reference of the value that the man assigned to it.

- the mate , a local beverage of leaves , dried and cut to make an infussion sucked with a straw into a small pot . One of the first tangos to be known abroad was "La morocha " that said in their letter "
Soy la que al paisano I am the one whom the peasant

muy de madrugada at the peep of dawn

brinda un cimarron. gives a "cimarron"



Cimarrsn means ..... a mate without sugar , just the leaves of mate dried and cut, usually they have a strong taste . Cimarron is also the name of wild horses not tamed .

It also has a link with portuguese, since in the south part of Brazil, there are peasants called gazchos , that drink their "cimarrao" , although the brazilian mate leaves are prepared different

from the argentinian ones, they use big pots , big straws , and mate leaves are almost reduced to powder





warm regards

alberto gesualdi

buenos aires







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