List of South American folk music traditions

This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely-varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly-defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.

These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.

Country Elements Dance Instrumentation Other topics
Afro-Colombian[1] champeta contradanza - currulao - mazurka - polka drum - marimba - shaker
Argentina[2][3][4][5] baguala - chamamé - cifra - folklorica - milonga - payada - tango - tonada - tunga-tunga [6] bataclán - chacarera - cuarteto - cueca - gato - milonga - tango - vidala - zamba accordion - bandoneón - flute - guitar - guitarrón - harp - piano - violin candombe - compadrito - lunfardo
Aymara[7][8] bombo - cajas - charango - kena - pinkillus - pitu - quena - siku - tarkas - wankara
Bolivia[5] bailecito - cueca - huayñitos
Brazil[9][10][11][12][5] boi - Capoeira song - choro - frevo - literatura de cordel - maracatu - modinha - repentismo - samba baião - batuque - bloco - Capoeira - carimbó - cururu - fandango - forró - jongo - kankuku - lundu - maxixe - modinha - muñeres - samba - xango agogô - atabaque - berimbau - cavaquinho - clarinet - cuíca - pandeiros - piano - reco-recos - sanfona - surdos - tamborim - triangle - viola - violão Candomblé - Carnival - escolas de samba
Chile[13][5] chocolate - cueca - periconas - sirillas - tras trasera - valses chilotes guitar - Chilean guitarrón - harp - tambourine - hand-clapping
Colombia[14][15][1][5] cumbia - bullerengue - cumbiamba - puya - lumbalú - mapalé - paseo - porro - tambora - son palenquero - puya vallenata - son vallenato - merengue vallenato - paseo vallenato - bambuco - pasillo - vals - danza - rajaleña - rumba campesina - guabina - sanjuanero - torbellino - currulao - juga - makerulle - porro chocoano - contradanza - andarele - aguabajo - tonada - pasaje - contrapunteo - copla - golpe - pajarillo - llanera - corrido - galerón - joropo - mento - calypso - reggae bambuco - sanjuanero - cumbia - currulao - joropo - porro accordion - bandola - bandolin - bass drum - bombardino - bombo - caja - capacho - carrizo - clarinet - cuatro - cymbal - flauto de millo - gaita - guacharaca - guache - guachos - harp - marimba - marimbula - pito - saxophone - snare drum - tambor hembra - tambor macho - tambora - tiple - trumpet - tuba
Ecuador[15][8][13] albazo - pasillo - pasacalle - tonada - yaraví - vals - currulao - andarele - bomba del chota - capishka currulao bombo - marimba - panpipe - rondador - pingullo - bomba - requinto
Andean[16] huayno - marinera - rasgueado - vals criollo - yaraví punchay kashwa - huayno - incaico - sayas Andean harp - cajón - charango - guitarra - mandolin - panpipe - quena - tinya - vihuela - violin Indigenismo - payadore
Kallawaya[13] k'antu arca - ira - ch'inisku - wankara - zampona
Peru[5] alcatraz - festejo - landó - marinera - tondero - vals cajón - guitar - bass - bugle
Quechua[17][8][13] sanjuan - vacación huayno - sanjuan antara - charango - harp - kena - quena - violin - guitar - drum golpeador - matrimonio - misai - wawa velorio
Sirionó[18] None
Suyá[19] akía rattle
Uruguay[20] candombe candombe tambor piano, tambor chico, tambor repique
Venezuela[21][13][5] Calypso de El Callao - Fulía - gaita - llanera - parranda - sangeo - aguinaldo - Galerón - Malagueña - Punto - Venezuelan bambuco - Venezuelan work songs joropo - merengue - polo - tamunangue - Venezuelan waltz - Venezuelan polka culoepuya - cuatro - furruco - harp - mandolin - maraca - mina - quitiplas - tambor - bandola Dancing Devils of Yare - Llanero

Notes

  1. ^ a b Burton, Kim, "El Sonido Dorado" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 372 - 385
  2. ^ Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 59 - 60
  3. ^ Peiro, Teddy and Jan Fairley, "Vertical Expression of Horizontal Desire", and Fairley's "Dancing Cheek to Cheek", both in the Rough Guide to World Music, pgs. 304 - 314 and 315 - 316
  4. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 190
  5. ^ a b c d e f g World Music Central
  6. ^ Though Fairley's essay places cuarteto and its tunga-tunga rhythm, and the modern folklorica trend, in a folk music context, their description indicates that all three topics are a largely modern subject, and may be more closely associated with popular than folk music.
  7. ^ Turino, pp. 239 - 240
  8. ^ a b c Fairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273 - 288
  9. ^ Manuel, Popular Musics, p. 64
  10. ^ Turino, pp. 245 - 246
  11. ^ Cleary, David, "Meu Brasil Brasileiro", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 332 - 349
  12. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 191
  13. ^ a b c d e Schechter, John M., "Latin America/Ecuador" in Worlds of Music, pp. 376 - 427
  14. ^ Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 50 - 52
  15. ^ a b Turino, p. 244
  16. ^ Fairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos" and "An Uncompromising Song", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273 - 288, and pp. 362 - 371
  17. ^ Turino, pp. 239 - 240, 242
  18. ^ Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 149
  19. ^ Turino, p. 243
  20. ^ Slater, Russ, In a Nutshell: Candombe Sounds and Colours
  21. ^ Sweeney, Philip and Dan Rosenberg, "Salsa Con Gasolina", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 624 - 630

Sources