Lunfardazo brings Buenos Aires slang to the National Academy of Tango

Buenos Aires’ distinctive slang will take over the National Academy of Tango on Saturday, when academics, musicians and “lunfardo enthusiasts” gather for a free edition of Lunfardazo.

The event, organized by the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo for Lunfardo Day, will begin at 5 p.m. at the National Academy of Tango on Avenida de Mayo. The two institutions will welcome guests jointly through their presidents, Gabriel Soria and Oscar Conde.

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We celebrate Lunfardo Day with this small twist: it will not be held at the usual home of the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo, but at the Tango Academy, because we have some plumbing problems in our building in San Telmo.

The venue change is practical as well as symbolic. The Lunfardo Academy’s usual home in San Telmo has plumbing problems, Conde told La Nación. The academy is a nonprofit organization supported by donations and, especially, by its own academics. Private contributions, he said, would help leave the building “pipí cucú,” or in excellent shape.

The move also makes possible a larger musical finale. After the academic presentations, two orchestras will perform, led by academy members Denise Sciammarella and Adrián Placenti. Conde said the arrangement would be difficult at the Lunfardo Academy because of space limitations.

Four academics will present research. Andrea Bohrn will discuss lunfardo in the newspaper Crítica between 1913 and 1933. Claudio Martínez and Adrián Placenti will examine tango and the urban stage through Ensalada criolla, a 1898 work. Gabriel Soria will speak about Carlos Waiss and lunfardo in the D’Arienzo-Echagüe partnership.

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It will be an extraordinary event that also gives us a great opportunity to celebrate the 2025 law declaring lunfardo an intangible part of the culture of the city of Buenos Aires.

Bohrn’s subject spans the period from the end of mass immigration to the later censorship of lunfardo. She said Crítica understood its audience and deliberately addressed readers in their own vocabulary, challenging the idea that lunfardo was absent from mass media in its early years.

The celebration also follows a 2025 law by the Buenos Aires legislature that declared lunfardo an intangible part of the city’s cultural heritage.

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We tend to believe that lunfardo was always outside mass media at the beginning, but what is interesting is that Natalio Botana’s newspaper was very aware of its audience and how to speak to them in their own vocabulary.