Anyone learning the tango will likely first focus on mastering the basic steps.

Your mind will be all about the tango walk and embrace, then the back step, side step, cross, forward, and side. Even these simple steps can be overwhelming!

Learning about tango beyond the steps, however, will make you fall in love with the craft even more.

And speaking of tango beyond movements, do you know about the great compadrito?

Compadrito is in the tango song you’re dancing to. He’s also that person on the dance floor.

Compadrito was there in the early years of tango, and he’s still around even now. He’s an interesting character who packs a punch of good and evil, and he’ll make your tango journey even more enjoyable. Let’s get to know this character and his role in tango!

It All Started With the Gauchos

Learning how to dance the tango becomes more meaningful when you also learn about its history.

Argentine tango was born in the late 1800s and early 1900s when European immigrants experimented with different music, including African and European traditional music.

Their experiment gave birth to the passionate and sensual music we now call tango.

Tango was the music of immigrants.

It was the people from the lower class who first danced to it, and tango music rang in many social gatherings. Before tango reached modern milongas and ballroom dance floors, it started as the music of the streets in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We can even trace its roots back to the gauchos.

Who are the gauchos? As defined by Very Tango Store in “TANGO HISTORY”:

“The word gaucho described a rough individual, normally traveling alone or with a woman – having as baggage only the clothes on his back and his knife.

Gauchos were intricately familiar with the landscape and were considered the very best breed of cowboys. Gauchos regularly held payadas in which the payadores (a paydore being a singer at la payada) competed through improvisation with guitars.”

The gauchos were there even before tango was tango. Perhaps, they even nurtured the music of the streets!

They were so important in the culture that they always appeared in tango history discussions.

They were also between the lines of tango songs we now know and love.

Famous Tango Song Characters

Let’s dive deeper into tango songs and the stories they tell that reflect upon Argentine culture. As listeners who don’t speak the language that tango songs are written in, it’s unsurprising that we don’t know the repetitive themes and characters. As shared by Nati & Bruno in “Famous tango (song) characters,” the heart of Argentine culture who are often depicted in tango songs are the gauchos, compadres, and compadritos.

the heart of Argentine culture who are often depicted in tango songs are the gauchos, compadres, and compadritos.

As mentioned,

the gauchos were Argentina’s “cowboys” who led a nomadic lifestyle.

They lived by rustling cattle, and many enlisted in Argentina’s war of independence.

Survivors lived in better societal positions, while the rest passed away on the front lines.

In “GAUCHOS, COMPADRES AND COMPADRITOS,” Susana Domingues added:

“Gauchos were either black runaways or deserters of the Argentine or Portuguese armies. Or they were just opposers of the establishment who made their lives wandering.

They were illiterate and lived by rustling cattle (stealing animals, eating their tongues, selling the skins).

During Argentina’s war of independence from Spain,

many Gauchos enlisted, as this fight for liberty represented their existing lifestyle and gave them a position in society as a conqueror of lands and freedoms.

But like the blacks, many Gauchos were wiped out on the front lines.”

Now, who are the compadres and the compadritos? And how are they related to the gauchos?

The Birth of Compadrito

The Argentine government distributed much of the countryside to European immigrants and aristocratic owners in 1880.

Many gauchos had no choice but to move into Buenos Aires’ poorest suburbs, and their sons led the next generation.

They were called the compadres.

Some called them the gauchos who had no cause to fight for.

The compadres inherited two things from the gauchos: the horse and the knife.

They had roots in the rural areas and often worked in slaughterhouses as butchers, herdsmen, and other similar occupations.

They were dominant and well-respected.

Notable tango historian Simon Collier in “The Popular Roots of the Argentine Tango,” described compadres as follows:

“The free nomadic gaucho world had more or less vanished by the 1880s, yet the suburban compadre did perhaps inherit certain gaucho values: pride, independence, ostentatious masculinity, a propensity to settle matters of honor with knives.”

And the next generation after them? The compadritos.

The compaditros lived a more leisurely lifestyle than their fathers did.

They “returned” to the gaucho way of life but still had similarities with the compadres. As Very Tango Store described:

“Compadritos were very similar to compadres, but were of city background rather than rural – many of these resided in the arrabales, which were the outmost slums of Buenos Aires.

Both compadres and compadritos were the men who hung out on the streets of Buenos Aires – reputed to be macho but likeable scoundrels, often carrying knifes, avoiding work, and living for women and tango.”

Compadritos often went to the candombe or the black people’s dances.

They learned various dance moves, including the “cortes” and “quebradas.” Susana Domingues said:

“Somewhat for pleasure, somewhat as an expression of rebellion, Compadritos began applying these figures to other dances being done at the time by the existing immigrants, such as the Polka and the Mazurka. It soon became common practice at social dances to prohibit the “Cortes” (steps which lead to the “Quebradas” which were considered obscene.)”

Simon Collier added that there were more compadritos than compadres, and they were young men from a poor background who imitated the latter. Both populated the tango when the gaucho heroes were celebrated as important popular culture and literature.

The gauchos, compadres, and compadritos are three generations of Argentine culture, each with their own characteristics.

While the three have differences, they all share an air of rebelliousness, machismo, and a love for the tango. As Simon Collier said:

“Gauchos and compadritos, in a kind of unusual blending, become, during this period, related to the ideology and objectives of the traditionalist movement in Argentina.”

The Real Compadrito

Since the compadrito is the youngest of the three generations and the famous tango song characters, it’s no surprise that the image is still alive today.

The word “compadrito” has many meanings, sometimes as good and sometimes as bad.

Adrián Rodriguez Yemha shared in “History of Tango | Excerpt: Differences between “compadrito”, “guapo”, and “malevo” that the compadrito is a dancer by nature.

He’s also kind, friendly, and always works honestly. Compadrito is also neat and romantic.

However,

compadrito also carried a knife and knew how to handle it.

Argentine short-story writer Jorge Luis Borges in “De compadritos y guapos” said they used to be bullies and intimidators.

People feared and admired them for their courage in knife dueling to the death. Compadritos fought to demonstrate superiority, especially in knife handling.

They loved to show they could fight over situations that put their honor or reputation at stake. Stories also say that even just mentioning another compadrito’s hometown could trigger a fight.

In “TANGO AND THE COMPADRITO” by Maggie Ferguson Tango, compadritos were vividly described as follows:

“Compadritos imitated the manners and posture of the more established compadre, often in a mocking way and retained the traditional creole way of speech, un influenced by the immigrants.

He was less a criminal than a hoodlum who lived on his wits and he must have exhibited an amiable charm in order to ensure his success with women.

He was the early protagonist of the tango, improvising and charming his way around the bars, cafes and brothels, competing for the prostitutes many of whom were imported to the city as part of a thriving foreign white slave traffic in Buenos Aires at the time. Indeed the city was known as “the port of missing women” where “European virgins unwillingly sold their bodies and danced the tango.””

Guapo and Malevo

Yes, compadrito has a side that we could call “bad.” He’s even linked to two other male characters, guapo and malevo, who share similar characteristics but different implications.

On the one hand,

guapo was a knives’ man, the strong man in the neighborhood.

He’s a bodyguard of political leaders and formed a family with his honest job. On the other hand,

malevo was the quarrelsome pimp.

He was the ruffian of bad habits, treacherous without nobility, and would stab someone in the back if he could.

How Compadrito Looks

Compadrito dressed according to the fashion of the time.

He wore a tight-fitting jacket, high-crowned hat, and scarf around his neck. He also had trousers with braids and high-heeled shoes.

Compadrito’s fashion imitated the rich, and it looked exaggerated.

As described by Maggie Ferguson Tango:

“He wore a loosely tied handkerchief around his neck, a slouch hat (usually grey), high heeled boots and a knife either concealed or tucked in to his belt. Some had a jopo, a kind of forelock.

A myth has survived which attributes his exaggerated swagger and mincing gait to ill fitting, un matched boots, either stolen or inherited. True or not, it reflected his way of life: his high minded attitude at odds with his income and his distaste for authority.”

Compadrito in Tango Songs

Compadrito was the muse of many tango songs.

One example is the iconic Carlos Gardel and Miguel Bucino’s “Bailarín compadrito,” which started with the following lyrics:

“Vestido como dandy, peinao a la gomina

(Dressed like a dandy, combed with gel)

y dueño de una mina más linda que una flor,

(and owner of a mine prettier than a flower,)

bailás en la milonga con aire de importancia,

(you dance in the milonga with an air of importance,)

luciendo la elegancia y haciendo exhibición.

(showing off elegance and showing off.)”

Very Tango Store also shared a depiction of compadritos in the 1913 tango “El Apache Argentino”:

“He’s the Argentine outlaw,

proud to be a thug.

He’ll defend to the death

the woman he loves.

Sharp and cocky,

he gambles on his life

when rivals show up,

making bets with his knife.”

Not all tango songs are about compadrito.

There are many other ones about social issues, love stories, and so on.

But we can find the compadrito character in many of them, along with the gaucho and compadre.

He’s the symbol of tango and a part of Argentine culture. Maggie Ferguson Tango said he’s tough, competitive, street-wise, manipulative, and territorial. He’s likely responsible for the enduring undiluted machismo of tango.

The Redeeming Side of Compadrito: Is There One?

The more we learn about compadrito, the more we feel like staying away from him.

But if compadrito was a tough guy, why is he closely associated with tango? Why do many tango songs sing about him?

It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of a compadrito, but, as mentioned earlier, he can also be a romantic.

If compadritos populated tango before, then he must be in the milongueros we dance with today.

The milongueros we now know are leaders who can be strong, attentive, passionate, and supportive. They make their followers feel safe, shining, and beautiful. Perhaps, these characteristics were passed on through the generations, all the way from the compadritos.

The generations that followed the compadritos let go of the knives but still kept some of the courage and strong sense of loyalty.

They brought the same energy to the dance floor as if they were battling in a fight.

They still possess a characteristic inherited from the compadrito: an inner strength that could be seen in their steps and posture.

Maybe tango is a kind of redemption for the compadritos. He’s not just one character; it’s a whole universe that we’re only beginning to explore. Compadrito is at the core of it, and he’s inspiring us to keep going deeper into what tango has to offer. And that is how tango has been kept alive and strong all these years!

The Three Characters in Tango: Compadrito, Guapo, and Malevo