“¿Are we in New York or are we in Buenos Aires?” A debate between tango and jazz in Caras y Caretas magazine in the 1930s

Abstract

During the interwar period, mass culture underwent
a remarkable expansion in Argentina due to a socioeconomic
and cultural framework that improved consumption possibilities.
Such growth, to which foreign production also contributed,
aroused concerns around national identity and the quality of
the products that represented it. In this article, we propose to
analyze a debate about these matters, which lasted for months on
the “letters to the editor” section of Caras y Caretas magazine.
Its participants debated about jazz and tango, explaining the
reasons why they favored one of these genres. erefore, we
consider that this controversy provides us a window into patterns
that guided contemporaries’ cultural consumption. Based on
the debate analysis, we will argue that, due to the contrast
between imported and indigenous genres, readers shaped different
definitions of national identity and a distinction based on their
musical preferences.