South American music and culture magazine

Carnival season is almost upon South America, but don’t worry – you haven’t left it too late to join the party. See below for last-minute cheap rates on hotels and hostels for four hot destinations… Continue Reading

They are the smallest nation to ever win the World Cup. And they’ve done it twice! They also boast the record for most Copa America wins (15 in total!) If you treat all international tournaments equally they are the most successful country ever. We are of course talking about Uruguay. Continue Reading

This is another great instalment from the Happy Jazz Radio team. Already they’ve given us mixes of msuci from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, and now we can add Uruguay to that list, thanks to this excellent mix of tracks from the 70s and 80s featuring such Uruguayan legends as Ruben Rada, Jorge Trasante and Opa. Continue Reading

The Blueberries are a new band from Uruguay. Last December they made their debut available for free from their website. Currently they are dreaming of a European tour, or that’s what we found out when we asked them a few questions recently. Continue Reading

In the streets, in the bus, on the beach, at the office, at home… Wherever you go, you will see someone sipping it, with flask under their arm. What is it about? Mate. This drink refers to a type a tea, commonly named yerba, drank out of a plant shell gourd with a bombilla, a metal straw. Drunk for centuries by the indigenous, way before the arrival of the conquistadores, mate is still the Uruguayan national drink. More than a drink, it is a lifestyle, almost an art. Alone or in a group, drinking mate is ceremonial. Continue Reading

The time has come to investigate the new music coming from Uruguay. Here we have a list of bands, some of which are new, some of which are old, but who are all making great music; music that is progressive, music that is trying to offer something different that’s not currently out there at the moment. Uruguay is a small country but this has never diminished their creativity, as evinced by some of the great indie, rock and folk acts we have been fortunate enough to have found, and who we can now repay the favour by saying a few words. Continue Reading

I clearly remember the news last year when Mario Benedetti passed away. For my British colleagues this may not have meant much more than any other death; however, for the Spanish-speaking world, this meant the death of some of our finest words and verses. Continue Reading

Bordered by two major countries, Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay is a tiny country that has no reason to be jealous of its neighbours. With its 176,620 square kilometres area, the second smallest country of South America is surrounded by 660 kilometres of coastline, including some of the most beautiful beaches of the continent. Watered by the Rio de la Plata on one side and the Atlantic Ocean, on the other, Uruguay offers a wide range of landscapes and atmospheres. Never-ending dunes of white sand, modern resorts with frenetic night-lives, fishermen villages, heavy surf for extreme sport aficionados, undisturbed seaside spots for families looking for peace and quiet…. Here is the top four of the finest beaches you can find in this small but diverse country. Continue Reading

We have been loving Onda Vaga‘s Fuerte y Caliente album ever since it was released a couple of years ago. You can imagine our delight then when we found out that Vincent Moon had recorded the band as part of his Take-Away Shows. Thus, we get four videos of Onda Vaga, who formed in the beach village of Cabo Polonio in Uruguay, playing in Buenos Aires, with the kind of delightful visuals that Vincent has managed to perfect through his guerilla film-making. Here are the vids with a few notes on the band: Continue Reading

Uruguay has one of the richest musical histories of the South American countries. The tango and milonga were in fact partly developed, as were the early musical expeditions of Carlos Gardel, who was born in Tacuarembó in the north of Uruguay. In the mid-60s Uruguayan music even threatened to take over the continent as new bands popped up, invigorated by the sound of The Beatles and ready to imitate their heroes. The Uruguayan beat invasion became a huge phenomenom in Argentina and Brazil for a number of years before hard rock came into force in Argentina, and Brazilian forms such as bossa nova, samba and tropicalia became the most popular forms in that country. Continue Reading

I became known as the ‘funny man’ while I was in Uruguay. It was a name that I hadn’t been called since the weekly poker nights I had become a part of in Ecuador. My drunken attempts at trying to bluff every single hand, and yet somehow winning, had been the reason for the moniker then. Now, I was being called that for daring to step into the heart of Uruguay. When I told people that I was going to Uruguay and that I was after some recommendations, all I got was a long list of beaches. Now, I’m a fan of beaches, but I’d just been to Brazil and had my fair share. Plus, my journey from Brazil to Iguazu and then Buenos Aires had seen me firmly heading along the ‘gringo trail’ for some time. I was ready for something a little different. So after spending a couple of days in Colonia and Montevideo (both easily reached from Argentina) I looked at the map, decided that a town called ‘thirty three’ sounded rather interesting and set off for the bus station. It was as I left the hostel that I heard Martin, one of the workers, talking to another guest: “he is a funny man, he is going to Treinta y Tres, nobody goes to Treinta y Tres.” Continue Reading

Our guide to some of the best websites about Uruguay, websites which should supply you with valuable and/or interesting information whether you are visiting, planning to live in the country, or just curious. Continue Reading