Social and Economic Struggles under the Infamous Decade

During the 1930s, General Uriburu overthrown the Yrigoyen government. The “Infamous Period” (Década Infame) started, and it ended until the rise of Juan Domingo Perón in 1943. Different from Uriburu, who favored authoritarian ruling, Justo during his presidency in 1932 governed with liberalism ideologies to reframe the country. However, the global economic crisis still impacted Argentina negatively. There were many corruptions, frauds and robberies that happened during that period that were supported by the government.

Many artistic works were censored in the 1930s, and those did not present to the greater mass until the Perón presidency. For example, a great song called “Camablache” that was written by a tango compositor Enrique Santos Discepolo was prohibited in the radio when it was released in 1934. Discepolo was one of the most famous tango songwriter and composer from Buenos Aires. This song was going to be used for the movie El Alma del Bandoneón, but the plan was changed. Instead, this song was first performed in the Downtown Buenos Aires in the Maipo Theater. More Argentines started to know about the corruption from and relate to the content in the song after the Perón presidency.

The song “Camabalche” used metaphors and sarcasm to reveal a chaotic society. “Camabalache” means a mix of things in Argentine Spanish. “Chorro” is an Argentine colloquial word for thieves, and Discepolo used this word to refer to bank frauds. He specifically referred to the one big scandal of Satvisky who created a fraud and took more than 200 million from the Municipality of Bayona with government support. Discepolo expressed in the song by saying that anyone could be a well-dressed gentleman and a thief at the same time like Satvisky. Between these lines, Discepolo showed lack of confidence of Argentines towards the government and political system. He made a metaphor of people were going to gather in the “horno“–oven–as it means people are struggling with life. From the song, the writer created the image that elites benefiting from money that they stole from frauds. The Argentine society seemed like a world that was full of distrusts and robberies regardless of people’s social class. 

The song “Camablache” (1934) as a primary source presented corruption, frauds and the impact of the global economic crisis that lasted in Argentina. Discepolo is always considered as one the greatest tango artists in the 20th Century. This song also represented a sign of resistance to censorship, as it left its legacy afterwards. Many historians nowadays use this song to show social and economic struggle in Argentina during the Infamous Decade. Many Argentines agree with the content presented by the song, as the frauds with government support and their daily struggles were real under the recession. It is also normal to see some Argentines until nowadays have lost confidence about political leaders and government in terms of economy, as they have experienced and learned so many failures from the 20th Century.

Bibliography

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Enrique Santos Discépolo. Cambalache. Contributed by Tangonostalgistas. 1935. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH6_jzFlkFg. Accessed Feb 25, 2020.

Jara, Fernanda. (March 2018). Hace 117 años nacía Enrique Santos Discépolo, el creador de “Cambalache”. Infoabe. https://www.infobae.com/cultura/2018/03/27/hace-117-anos-nacia-enrique-santos-discepolo-el-creador-de-cambalache/. Accessed Feb 25.

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Sonogo, Victor Mariano. (1985). Capítulo X La Segunda Restauración Liberal (1930-1945), 217-259. Las Dos Argentinas Tomo I. Ediciones Don Bosco Argentina, Argentina. 

Wu, Tongtong. (Sep 2019). El Análisis de la letra Cambalache. Seminario: Latina América, Universidad del Salvador. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mZibgEnSJlNtUKnYtvl048Y89Owyr_PiTsoOCSS72t8/edit