Music of Uruguay - Definition

Uruguay has a number of local musical forms. The most distinctive ones are candombe, an Afro-Uruguayan percussion-based form, and murga, a form of musical theatre, which both 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. Uruguay is also known for its tango; 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 Western forms, frequently makes reference to the distinctly Uruguayan sounds mentioned above. The group Los Shakers, 1960s imitators of The Beatles, deserve a special mention as the band that kickstarted the rock nacional scene in neighboring Argentina.