Culture

The culture of Argentina is diverse. Argentina is a country naturally multicultural owing to the great geographical variations as well as to the different nationalities that settled within its borders.
Its art, its festivals, food, language and music reflect the different strands of people who inhabit the country. These include the original inhabitants and European immigrants (mostly Spanish and Italian) who arrived at the end of the 19^th century and beginning of the 20^th. These European influences mixed with the existing native elements result in a rich and varied culture.

Music

Argentina is considered to be one of the Latin-American countries with greater variety in its musical life. Consequently one can find a great repertory of different kinds of music.

Folk music fuses the music of the native peoples of Argentina with the music brought by the Spaniards. Once considered provincial and backward this music has gradually been given more prominence and now it is universally popular, with numerous venues called ‘peñas’ where one can learn and practise the different dances.

Tango is the music of Buenos Aires. The origin of the word tango seems to be the name of the places where slaves and low class people danced.

Besides all this we can find other types of music, such as argentine rock, candombe, salsa, cumbia, etc.

Food & Drink

El asado is a typical custom in Argentina; it is beef cooked on a parrilla, i.e. charcoal. It is usually preceded by achuras, that is to say chorizo, black pudding, kidneys, chitterlings, sweetbreads, and accompanied by different salads. The asado is a ritual that all Argentines have in common and use as a way of meeting family and friends, for celebrations or for offering a welcome.

Wine: For quite a while now the quality of Argentine wines has been recognized at an international level. A propitious climate and the knowledge of several generations have combined to achieve wines of exceptional quality.

Las empanadas are another feature that is never missing in popular fiestas or get together or Sundays and feast days in the family home. An empanada is a sort of small pie, i.e. it is a filling wrapped in pastry. The fillings vary greatly: they can be made with meat, fish, vegetables (spinach, corn), chicken, etc. They can also be sweet. Empanadas can be fried or cooked in the oven. Each region, each province has a different way of cooking them and a slightly differing version of the filling: some include raisins, for instance, and/or hardboiled egg.

El mate: it is a ritual that has become a symbol of friendship and courtesy. It is an infusion which is traditionally drunk from a gourd through a metal straw called bombilla; it is drunk as it is, amargo, but some people add sugar to make it dulce, i.e. sweet. It can be drunk at any time of day, anywhere, alone or with friends, or simply in a moment of peace and meditation.

El dulce de leche is a milk based syrup. Found as both a sauce and a caramel candy, it is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that is similar in taste to fudge. It is also the basis for the elaboration of many sweets and desserts which form part of the classics of Argentine gastronomy.

El alfajor is a traditional sweet of Spanish origin, very popular in Argentina. It consists of two soft ‘biscuits’ stuck together, generally with dulce de leche but sometimes with other jams. It roughly resembles a yo-yo. As with the empanadas, each province has a different version of the alfajor. There are also some that are coated in chocolate.

THE GAUCHO

The gaucho, or Argentinean cowboy, appears soon after the conquest of the River Plate region by the Spaniards. The gaucho was a person of mixed race, with Indian and Spanish blood in his veins. He was a consummate horseman and had the skills needed to exploit the wild cattle and horses which roamed the Argentinean plains, the pampas. But at the beginning of the nineteenth century the new landowning class, which established Argentina’s ranching system, did not view favourably this semi-nomadic figure who lived on the margins of society. The gaucho was considered to be an idler, a thief, a barbarian. With the passing of time, however, views of the gaucho changed. The great epic poem Martín Fierro (1872 and 1879) by José Hernández was a defence of gaucho culture and skills and together with Ricardo Güiraldes’s novel Don Segundo Sombra (1926) it helped to establish the gaucho as a noble figure and present gaucho culture and values as a fundamental element of Argentinian identity. The gaucho was no longer a marginal figure but a symbol of nationhood.

ARCHITECTURE

The layout of Argentine towns and cities dates from the colonial period, as is the case throughout the Spanish Empire in Latin America. There is a central square, around which are located the Church and public buildings. The central square is surrounded by regular blocks arranged in a chequer board pattern. Until well into the nineteenth century, almost all the buildings were of only one storey and there were few taller structures.

The second half of the nineteenth century witnessed the phenomenal growth of Argentina’s agrarian economy. (By the beginning of the Twentieth Century Argentina was among the ten most wealthy nations in the world, thanks to its exports of grain, beef and wool) and Argentine cities underwent great changes. Buenos Aires, in particular, saw a great transformation; it ceased to be the ‘big village’ and became the ‘Paris of the southern hemisphere’. Blocks of flats and mansions in the French manner were constructed; a park in the style of Paris’s Bois de Boulogne was created; the Colón Theatre, a magnificent opera house based on European models was built. This together with the undeniable Spanish influence and style of the central quarter gives Buenos Aires an European ‘feel’.