Music of Uruguay
Encyclopedia
The music of Uruguay
includes a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones are tango
, murga
, a form of musical theatre, and candombe
, an afro-Uruguayan type of music which occur yearly during the Carnival
period. There is also milonga
, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found in many Hispanic-American countries. The famed tango singer Carlos Gardel
is rumoured to have been from the Uruguayan town of Tacuarembó
.
The popular music of Uruguay, which focuses on rock
, jazz
and many other forms, frequently makes reference to the distinctly Uruguayan sounds mentioned above. The group 1960s imitators of The Beatles
, deserve a special mention as the band that kickstarted the Argentine rock
scene. Also, cumbia
, a music style popular throughout most of Central and South America is widely enjoyed by the Uruguayan people, around the whole country.
and dance
arose Buenos Aires
, Argentina
as well as Montevideo
, Uruguay. It is still questioned whether Carlos Gardel
, the giant of tango, was actually born in Tacuarembo, Uruguay, rather than in France. He claimed throughout his life to be Uruguayan but a birth certificate appeared following his death leading all to believe he was actually French but left to avoid national service. Other Uruguayan tango musicians, among the most important names, were director Francisco Canaro and his violinist Modesto Ocampo. Also the singer Julio Sosa. One of the best-known tangos in the world, "La Cumparsita
", was written by Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
. Modern tango musicians include Raul Jaurena, Hugo Díaz
, Miguel Villasboas, Marino Rivero, Raul Montero, Elsa Moran, Gustavo Nocetti, Luis di Matteo, Julio Brum, Hector Ulises Passarella, and Giovanna. One of the key names in modern tango, poet Horacio Ferrer, who contributed the lyrics for several of the most important tango works by Astor Piazzolla, is Uruguayan as well.
, where Africa
n slaves
brought their dance
s and percussion
music. The word tango then referred to the traditional drums and dances, as well as the places where dancing occurred. Candombe rhythms are produced by drum ensembles, known as cuerdas, which include dozens of drummers and feature three drum sizes: tambor repique, tambor chico and tambor piano, known as tambores de candombe
.
Popular candombe musicians include Hugo Fattoruso and Rubén Rada
. Fattoruso has been a longtime part of both the Uruguayan and Latin American music
scene, including as a member of rock band Los Shakers
, and swing band The Hot Blowers, as well as Brazilian Milton Nascimento
and the Latin jazz
and Acid Jazz
group Opa.It was in the 70's the USA's most important band according to the magazine Down Beat.
The Afro-Uruguayan rhythm Candombe has played a significant role in Uruguayan culture for over 200 years. The rhythm is created by the use of three drums (tambores); tambor piano, tambor chico and tambor repique. The piano is the largest in size and the lowest in pitch of the three tambores. The rhythmic base of Candombe, its function similar to that of the upright or electric bass. The chico (small) is the smallest in size and highest in pitch of the three tambores, serving as the rhythmic pendulum. The tambor repique (ricochet) embellishes Candombe's rhythm with improvised phrases. Each of the three tambores is played with an open hand (mano) and a stick (palo) in the other. At a minimum, one of each of the three tambores must be present.
The purest form of Candombe takes place each Sunday night on the streets of Montevideo, where many drummers assemble, playing their drums under the moon lit sky. Isla de Flores
is the main street that joins Cuareim and Ansina, Candombe's two main social groups. For over a century spontaneous cuerdas have paraded on this street, and continue to do so today (Isla de Flores is also known by its second name, Carlos Gardel). As the cuerda slowly makes its way through the narrow streets of Montevideo, this contagious rhythm takes with it all in its path, surrounded on all sides by the neighborhood people moving their bodies to the rhythm of Candombe. At intervals the cuerda will pause, and by setting a fire, will heat their drums' skins for tuning purposes.
The song was set to a lively 2/4 tempo, and often included musical improvisation. Over time, dance steps and other musical influences were added, eventually giving rise to the tango
. Milonga music is still used for dancing, but the milonga dancing of today is derivative of tango.
celebrations. A traditional murga group comprises a chorus and three percussionists and this is the type of murga performed on stages at Carnival. The singers perform in harmony using up to five vocal parts. Vocal production tends to be nasal and loud with little variation in volume. The percussion instruments, derived from the European military band, are the bombo (a shallow bass drum worn at the waist and played horizontally), redoblante (snare drum) and platillos (cymbals). The two most important pieces of the performance are the opening song (saludo) and the exit song (retirada or despedida). These get played on the radio during the
developments like nueva canción
, nueva trova
and tropicalismo
. Daniel Viglietti
was by far the most important Uruguayan exponent of canto popular; his song "A Desalambrar" became an international popular classic. Canto popular peaked in about 1977.
Uruguayan artists involved in canto popular included Los Eduardos, Los Que Iban Cantando, Universo, Carlos Benavides, Carlos Maria Fossatti, Eduardo Darnauchans, Anibal Sampayo, Marcos Velázquez, Alfredo Zitarrosa
, José Carbajal (Uruguayan musician)
("El Sabalero"), Los Olimareños
and Hector Numa Moraes.
and Eduardo Mateo
. Emerging at the same time as Los Shakers
they forged their own identity with very little Western influence. The beat of candombe
formed the rhythm, bossa nova
played a large role in its chords and structure, as did traditional Uruguayan folk music. Mateo and Rada would both go on to have successful solo careers, and the music's influence would play a large role in Popular Music
and Uruguayan rock
.
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
includes a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones are tango
Uruguayan tango
Uruguayan tango is a form of dance that originated in the neighborhoods of Montevideo, Uruguay towards the beginnings of the 20th century a few years later than Argentine tango...
, murga
Murga
Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Uruguay and in Argentina during the Carnival season. Murga groups operate in Montevideo and at the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; the Argentine murga is more centred on dancing and less on vocals than the...
, a form of musical theatre, and candombe
Candombe
Candombe is a musical genre that has its roots in the African Bantu, and is proper of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil .Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced and spread internationally and has been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity...
, an afro-Uruguayan type of music which occur yearly during the Carnival
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
period. There is also milonga
Milonga
Milonga can refer to an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceded the tango and the dance form which accompanies it, or to the term for places or events where the tango or Milonga are danced...
, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish traditions and related to similar forms found in many Hispanic-American countries. The famed tango singer Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
is rumoured to have been from the Uruguayan town of Tacuarembó
Tacuarembó
Tacuarembó is the capital city of the Tacuarembó Department in north-central Uruguay. It is located on Km. 390 of Route 5, south-southwest of Rivera, the capital city of the Rivera Department. Routes 26 and 31 also meet Route 5 within the city limits...
.
The popular music of Uruguay, which focuses on rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and many other forms, frequently makes reference to the distinctly Uruguayan sounds mentioned above. The group 1960s imitators of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, deserve a special mention as the band that kickstarted the Argentine rock
Argentine rock
Argentine rock , is composed or made by Argentine bands or artists, in the Spanish language. For nearly half a century it has been a major popular genre, and it is considered part of the popular music tradition of Argentina alongside Argentine Tango, and Argentine folk music.The moment when...
scene. Also, cumbia
Cumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
, a music style popular throughout most of Central and South America is widely enjoyed by the Uruguayan people, around the whole country.
Uruguayan tango
The modern field of tango musicTango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
and dance
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
arose Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
as well as Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay. It is still questioned whether Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel
Carlos Gardel was a singer, songwriter and actor, and is perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was born in Toulouse, France, although he never acknowledged his birthplace publicly, and there are still claims of his birth in Uruguay. He lived in Argentina from the age of two...
, the giant of tango, was actually born in Tacuarembo, Uruguay, rather than in France. He claimed throughout his life to be Uruguayan but a birth certificate appeared following his death leading all to believe he was actually French but left to avoid national service. Other Uruguayan tango musicians, among the most important names, were director Francisco Canaro and his violinist Modesto Ocampo. Also the singer Julio Sosa. One of the best-known tangos in the world, "La Cumparsita
La Cumparsita
"La cumparsita" is a musical piece written by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, an Uruguayan musician, in 1916. It is among the most famous and recognizable tango songs of all time....
", was written by Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
Gerardo Matos Rodríguez
Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodríguez Montevideo, Uruguay, also known as Becho, was a Uruguayan musician, composer and journalist.-Background and early career:...
. Modern tango musicians include Raul Jaurena, Hugo Díaz
Hugo Diaz
Víctor Hugo Díaz was a tango, folklore and jazz harmonicist.- Early life :...
, Miguel Villasboas, Marino Rivero, Raul Montero, Elsa Moran, Gustavo Nocetti, Luis di Matteo, Julio Brum, Hector Ulises Passarella, and Giovanna. One of the key names in modern tango, poet Horacio Ferrer, who contributed the lyrics for several of the most important tango works by Astor Piazzolla, is Uruguayan as well.
Candombe
Candombe originates from the Río de la PlataRío de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
, where Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
brought their dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
s and percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
music. The word tango then referred to the traditional drums and dances, as well as the places where dancing occurred. Candombe rhythms are produced by drum ensembles, known as cuerdas, which include dozens of drummers and feature three drum sizes: tambor repique, tambor chico and tambor piano, known as tambores de candombe
Tambores de candombe
The tambores de candombe or tamboriles are drums used in the playing of Candombe music of Uruguay. They are single skin headed and there are three sizes: piano , repique , and the chico...
.
Popular candombe musicians include Hugo Fattoruso and Rubén Rada
Rubén Rada
Rubén Rada is an Afro-Uruguayan percussionist, composer and singer. He is closely associated with Candombe, an Afro–Uruguayan rhythmic style music, which is based on the sound of three types of drums: ´chico´, ‘repique’ and ‘piano’...
. Fattoruso has been a longtime part of both the Uruguayan and Latin American music
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
scene, including as a member of rock band Los Shakers
Los Shakers
Los Shakers were a popular rock band in 1960s and was a part of the Uruguayan Invasion in Latin America. The band was formed in 1963 in Montevideo, Uruguay. They were modeled after The Beatles and even adopted similar haircuts and clothing, as can be seen in their record cover. The band sang many...
, and swing band The Hot Blowers, as well as Brazilian Milton Nascimento
Milton Nascimento
-Biography:Nascimento's mother was the maid Maria Nascimento. As a baby, Milton Nascimento was adopted by his mother's former employers: the couple Josino Brito Campos, a banker employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician; and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer...
and the Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
and Acid Jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
group Opa.It was in the 70's the USA's most important band according to the magazine Down Beat.
The Afro-Uruguayan rhythm Candombe has played a significant role in Uruguayan culture for over 200 years. The rhythm is created by the use of three drums (tambores); tambor piano, tambor chico and tambor repique. The piano is the largest in size and the lowest in pitch of the three tambores. The rhythmic base of Candombe, its function similar to that of the upright or electric bass. The chico (small) is the smallest in size and highest in pitch of the three tambores, serving as the rhythmic pendulum. The tambor repique (ricochet) embellishes Candombe's rhythm with improvised phrases. Each of the three tambores is played with an open hand (mano) and a stick (palo) in the other. At a minimum, one of each of the three tambores must be present.
The purest form of Candombe takes place each Sunday night on the streets of Montevideo, where many drummers assemble, playing their drums under the moon lit sky. Isla de Flores
Isla de Flores
Isla de Flores is a small island in the Rio de Plata, 21 miles southeast of Punta Carretas, Montevideo, Uruguay. Flores was named by Sebastián Gaboto, who discovered it on the day of Easter, 1527....
is the main street that joins Cuareim and Ansina, Candombe's two main social groups. For over a century spontaneous cuerdas have paraded on this street, and continue to do so today (Isla de Flores is also known by its second name, Carlos Gardel). As the cuerda slowly makes its way through the narrow streets of Montevideo, this contagious rhythm takes with it all in its path, surrounded on all sides by the neighborhood people moving their bodies to the rhythm of Candombe. At intervals the cuerda will pause, and by setting a fire, will heat their drums' skins for tuning purposes.
Milonga
The milonga was a South American style of song that was popular in the 1870s. The milonga was derived from an earlier style of singing known as the payada de contrapunto.The song was set to a lively 2/4 tempo, and often included musical improvisation. Over time, dance steps and other musical influences were added, eventually giving rise to the tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
. Milonga music is still used for dancing, but the milonga dancing of today is derivative of tango.
Murga
Murga is a kind of Montevidean musical theater for CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
celebrations. A traditional murga group comprises a chorus and three percussionists and this is the type of murga performed on stages at Carnival. The singers perform in harmony using up to five vocal parts. Vocal production tends to be nasal and loud with little variation in volume. The percussion instruments, derived from the European military band, are the bombo (a shallow bass drum worn at the waist and played horizontally), redoblante (snare drum) and platillos (cymbals). The two most important pieces of the performance are the opening song (saludo) and the exit song (retirada or despedida). These get played on the radio during the
Canto popular
Canto popular (popular song), which arose around 1975, eschewed contemporary instrumentation, including electric instruments, allowing only native styles and rhythms. This can be compared to Spanish-language singer-songwriterSinger-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
developments like nueva canción
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
, nueva trova
Nueva trova
Nueva trova is a movement in Cuban music that emerged around 1967/68 after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the consequent political and social changes....
and tropicalismo
Tropicalismo
Tropicália, also known as Tropicalismo, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre, poetry, and music, among other forms. Tropicália was influenced by poesia concreta , a genre of Brazilian avant-garde poetry embodied in the works of Augusto de Campos, Haroldo...
. Daniel Viglietti
Daniel Viglietti
Daniel Alberto Viglietti Indart is an Uruguayan folk singer, guitarist, composer, and political activist. He is one of the main exponents of Uruguayan popular song and also of the Nueva Canción or "New Song" of the 1960s and early 1970s.He founded, in 1971, along with other musicians like José...
was by far the most important Uruguayan exponent of canto popular; his song "A Desalambrar" became an international popular classic. Canto popular peaked in about 1977.
Uruguayan artists involved in canto popular included Los Eduardos, Los Que Iban Cantando, Universo, Carlos Benavides, Carlos Maria Fossatti, Eduardo Darnauchans, Anibal Sampayo, Marcos Velázquez, Alfredo Zitarrosa
Alfredo Zitarrosa
Alfredo Zitarrosa Alfredo Zitarrosa Alfredo Zitarrosa (b. March 10, 1936, d. on January 17, 1989 in Montevideo, Uruguay; a Uruguayan singer, composer, poet, writer and journalist...
, José Carbajal (Uruguayan musician)
José Carbajal (Uruguayan musician)
José María Carbajal Pruzzo , known as El Sabalero was an Uruguayan singer, composer and guitarist.-Childhood:...
("El Sabalero"), Los Olimareños
Los Olimareños
Los Olimareños was a popular Uruguayan singing group originally formed by Pepe Guerra, Waldemar Sasías and Braulio López, who then took shaping the duo composed by Pepe and Braulio, it is estimated that in 1962.-History:...
and Hector Numa Moraes.
Candombe beat
Candombe beat began in the late 60s with El Kinto, a band featuring Ruben RadaRubén Rada
Rubén Rada is an Afro-Uruguayan percussionist, composer and singer. He is closely associated with Candombe, an Afro–Uruguayan rhythmic style music, which is based on the sound of three types of drums: ´chico´, ‘repique’ and ‘piano’...
and Eduardo Mateo
Eduardo Mateo
Eduardo Mateo was a Uruguayan singer, songwriter, guitarist and arranger. He played a key role in the development of the modern Uruguayan music mixing beat, jazz, bossa nova and local rhythms like candombe, in a similar way than Brazilian Tropicalismo.Musicians like Academy Award winner Jorge...
. Emerging at the same time as Los Shakers
Los Shakers
Los Shakers were a popular rock band in 1960s and was a part of the Uruguayan Invasion in Latin America. The band was formed in 1963 in Montevideo, Uruguay. They were modeled after The Beatles and even adopted similar haircuts and clothing, as can be seen in their record cover. The band sang many...
they forged their own identity with very little Western influence. The beat of candombe
Candombe
Candombe is a musical genre that has its roots in the African Bantu, and is proper of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil .Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced and spread internationally and has been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity...
formed the rhythm, bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
played a large role in its chords and structure, as did traditional Uruguayan folk music. Mateo and Rada would both go on to have successful solo careers, and the music's influence would play a large role in Popular Music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
and Uruguayan rock
Uruguayan rock
Uruguayan rock first emerged in Uruguay in the 1950s. The real breakthrough for rock in Uruguay, however, as in much of the world, was the arrival of The Beatles in the early 1960s.- History :...
.