Uraguay. I don’t know very much about Uruguay, its history, it’s cultural traditions. A couple years ago I stumbled across a CD by a group doing traditional music from Uruguay, featuring double-row button accordion. They were called Los Gauchos de Roldán. Naturally, I ordered it up right away.

From their website: “Los Gauchos de Roldán” were formed in Tacuarembó, Uruguay in 1986 by accordion master Walter Roldán. Together they perform authentic music and dance from the rural areas of Uruguay. The origins are rhythms and melodies
brought by European immigrants that were adapted by Uruguayans, giving them a distinct tone and color. There are influences, as well, from Afro-Uruguayans. The traditional instruments are the two-row button accordion and the guitar. Walter comes from a family of traditional
musicians and learned to play the button accordion from his father and grandmother. Their vast repertoire includes traditional Uruguayan styles such as: polca, vals, shotis, mazurka, habanera, tango, milonga, chamarrita, as well as chamamé from Argentina, and vanera, maxixa, and vanerao from Southern Brazil.

I was delighted when I heard their music. Who knew they played polkas down in Uraguay? Not me. I know now though. I love this stuff. Listen to La Polca de Cerro Chato. They have great traditional outfits too, don’t they? Here’s Walter Roldán with Jose Curbelo y su Conjunto, playing a Milonga called Pampeana. Milongas preceeded Tangos historically and were developed in Argentina and Uruguay.

For me, this old traditional music, played just so, the way it has always been played, sounds so fresh and alive. What a revolution the polka must have been, when it spread across Europe, into Texas and Mexico, through the midwest industrial States, down into South America and who knows where else.

If there are any readers out there who know about the traditional music of Uruguay, please feel free to make a comment and share your experience and your stories.