Residents of slums set up a protest tent near Obelisk, 22 April 2014 by Claudio Santisteban, Demotix. All links without [es] are in English. Argentina's shantytowns—the villas miserias—are in an identity crisis. Shantytown identity is a culture all its own, but it doesn't enjoy the visibility many other cultures do. Greater recognition would allow these disadvantaged communities to stop living in the shadows and grab hold of some genuine pride. Besides being about socioeconomic status, “slum identity” also has its own unique music, language, and comedy. Argentina's shantytowns could soon be getting some help to establish their identity, now that the government has preliminarily approved a plan to make October 7 “Slum Identity Day” [es] [Día de la Identitidad Villera]. The date was chosen to honor ‘slum’ priest, Father Carlos Mugica [es]. The product of Argentina's socioeconomic issues, slum identity also has a strong presence in local music, where it's known as cumbia villera [shantytown cumbia], name given by its creator, Pablo Lescano [es], whose blog traces the genre's roots. His music group, Damas Gratis, celebrates this history [es]. Corría el año 1999 y Pablo tiene un accidente en moto por lo que es operado de las 2 piernas y queda postrado en camilla. Es ahi donde empiesa (sic) a formarse la idea de tener un grupo que toque colombianos y haga mover a la gente en el baile. Estando en camilla crea las letras del primer disco de Damas Gratis “Para Los Pibes” , claro que faltaba un cantante. Al ver que no se conseguia cantante para el nuevo proyecto decide darle èl (sic) la voz a la banda. Es asi que nace “Damas Gratis”. In 1999, Pablo was involved in a motorcycle accident that left him disabled and bedridden. During this time, he began to think of putting together a group that played Colombian music and made people dance. While bedridden, he wrote the words for the Damas Gratis's first album, Para Los Pibes [For the Boys]. He was still missing was a singer, however. Unable to find one, he became the lead vocalist. That's how Damas Gratis was born. Argentinan slum identity also has its own dialect, better known as Lunfardo Villero [es]. Voy a contarles un poco sobre la jerga villera, el lenguaje con el que se identifican quienes habitan las villas miseria y en el que cristaliza la realidad social, cultural y económica de una clase que suele ser estigmatizada por la pobreza, la delincuencia y las drogas. La música, especialmente la ‘cumbia villera’, es esgrimida como marca identitaria y expresión de esa realidad. I'm going to talk a little about slum jargon. It is the language that identifies its inhabitants and crystalizes the social, cultural, and economic reality of a people often stigmatized due to poverty, crime, and drugs. Music, especially “cumbia villera,” is considered an important way to express this identity. Here are some slum terms found on the blog, Español (con Virgulilla) [es] [Spanish (with a Tilde)]: mechero: persona que roba ropa en las tiendas(del Pequeño Diccionario tumbero) chamullar: charlar, conversar, generalmente con el fin de lograr algo. Chamullo/Chamuyo es una palabra que el lunfardo tomó del caló (dialecto de los gitanos de España). En “La reina del tango”, Enrique Cadícamo escribió: El gotán se te fue al corazón como un dulce chamullo de amor. tranza: vendedor de droga chorro: ladrón gil (palabra del lunfardo que también deriva del caló): tonto. En su Diccionario del lunfardo, Gobello menciona los aumentativos gilón y gilún, este último con influencia del genovés, así como los despectivos gilastro y gilastrún. También es usual la inversión “logi” fierro: revólver mechero: one who steals clothes from a store (from the Pequeño Diccionario tumbero [es] – The Small Dictionary of Prision-isms). chamullar: to chat or converse with the purpose of accomplishing something. Chamullo/chamuyo is a Lunfardo word taken from the Spanish Gypsy dialect, Caló. In “The Queen of Tango,” Enrique Cadícamo wrote, “Tango struck your heart, just like sweet nothings.” tranza: one who sells drugs chorro: theif gil: (another Lunfardo word deriving from Caló): dumb. In the Lunfardo Dictionary, Gobello mentions aumentatives, gilón and gilún. The latter has been influenced by Genoese, along with the derogatory terms gilastro and gilastrún. Written backwards, logi, is also common. fierro: revolver A year ago, Argentina witnessed the first Slum Stand-up [es]—a type of street comedy or monologue about life in the shantytowns.