Humor as a critical tool and legitimation of Argentine “música de proyección folclórica”. The notes of Eduardo Lagos in the Folklore magazine

Abstract

Folklore was a specialized Argentine publication that offered information related to musicians’ presentations, the commercial activity linked to folklore and its diffusion, although it was not exempt from the tensions that were formed around this scene of popular urban music. With the aim of showing how humor can be a critical tool and, furthermore, can be work as a strategy to legitimise the “música de proyección folclórica”, this work analyses the records reviews signed by Eduardo Lagos in this magazine during the years 1967 and 1968. To this end, it succinctly reviews the history of Argentine folk music during the 20th century, mentions the tensions produced during the period that was called the “boom del folklore” and appeals to the most prominent theories of verbal humor.