This article examines the limitations of analytical approaches focusing on formal characterisation when studying popular musical expressions developed in the bonaian urbe between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. In order to account for these limitations, a speech and guitar style interpreted at the end of the 19th century in the performing adaptations of the novel Juan Moreira de Eduardo Gutiérrez is analysed. First, definitions of this gender found in a number of early musical works are introduced and their influence on their analysis is examined. Secondly, Juan Moreira’s style is characterised and contextualised, and an analysis of its formal features was carried out between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. Finally, the performative aspects and the significance processes of the selected example are studied and, on this basis, the tensions that arise between ETIC conceptualisations and emic of this gender are highlighted.