Today, March 23rd, we commemorate the
centenary of Enrique Santos Discépolo’s birth. As a homage to the
“minstrel of Buenos Aires corners”, as Norberto Galasso called
him, we must remember that his tango “Cambalache” (“Barter”),
had the privilege of being forbidden by military governments, from the
one in 1943 on. This tango’s lyrics are a sarcastic accusation to
the corruption and impunity reigning during the “infamous decade”,
and are so related to the country reality as they were in 1935.
The neutrality that favoured Germany, Italy and Japan
kept by president Ramón S. Castillo, prohibited the exhibition of the
film “El fin de la noche” (“The end of the night”), starred by
Libertad Lamarque and Juan José Miguenz and directed by Alberto de
Zavalía. This film, which told a story that happened in a country
invaded by the nazis and in which Libertad Lamarque sang the tango
“Uno” (“One”), could only be exhibited after Palacio’s coup
on June 4th.
Discépolos’s tangos were affected by the moral
rules stated by that regime. Education Minister, Gustavo Martínez
Zuviría (Hugo Wast), formed a commission presided by monsignor
Gustavo Franceschi, that was in charge of looking after the purity of
the language. This commission believed that tango’s lyrics were
against it, and they forbid the use of “you” and “lunfardo”
expressions.
Tango authors, suddenly had to change their lyrics, to
adapt them to the stupidity of these new rules. Because of this
alterations, many titles and verses in tangos were so ridiculous, that
completely changed the meaning of the song, and they ended up being a
parody of tango.
In 1949, Discépolo and other authors had a meeting
with president Juan D. Perón, and they told him that those rules
affected their work. The president was so convinced of that, that he
abrogated the arbitrary regulation.
Discépolo’s relationship with Perón, originated
“Mordisquito” (“Little bite”), a character in the radio show
“Pienso y digo lo que pienso” (“I think and I say what I
think”), in which he talked to an imaginary government opponent.
This character was so successful that Perón said, later on, that he
was re-elected in the elections of November 11th, 1951
because of and women’s vote and “Mordisquito”.
Because of his voluntary and unconditional adhesion to
Perón’s government, Discépolo was hated and despised by the
artists that were against it.
But Anselmo Aieta and Francisco García Jiménez had
been luckier than he was: soon after the coup of September 6th,
1930, as a sign of obedience, they wrote the tango “Viva la
patria” which, fortunately for its authors, has been forgotten by
the audience.
