The biggest and most popular festival of Uruguay an of course of Montevideo is Carnival. It shows an important part of the culture, the carnival “moment” is from February to March.

Even though these activities are practiced, in different ways during the whole year in shows, official events, festivals and spontaneously in the neighborhoods where at the same time murgas and candome take place.

People from Montevideo are really warm. The mate, as it happens in the Rio de la Plata, is the typical infusion, some people prefer it sweet while some other prefer “a bitter” as it is said.

The candombe is a typical rhythm of Uruguay. It arrived to this lands together with black people who were brought from the west of Africa as slaves. Candome is present in much music rhythm, even in rock.

To play Candombe three drums made in wood and leather lonjas in its top part but nowadays it is also used synthetic materials.

The drums have got three sizes and three different sounds. The smallest drum has a high sound and is called “Chico”, the medium size one is called “Repique” and the biggest with a low sound is called “Piano”.

The Murga is another typical phenomenon that takes place during the Carnival of Montevideo. The murga itself, is a group of people who get together to sing and practice to take part in the carnival competition.

It is based on making fun by criticizing the government of the moment and also acting.

They sing while using the cymbal, drums and the bass drum. The director (dressed as a traditional director but in a funny way) almost always uses a guitar to mark the rhythm for the rest of them.

The tango in Montevideo is discreet. Even though still nowadays, many years after Tango was born, people related it to Argentina and specially to Buenos Aires but it is true that this city has also seen the first steps of Tango.

Here, Tango is not a merchandising (except from some hotels that organize, for its clients, visits to “boites de nuit” where you can see tango shows “for export”).

One of the reasons why Tango is associated to Buenos Aires is because of the establishment of the phonographic industry. In Buenos Aires, the first discos were recorded at the beginning of XX century while in Montevideo (where the market is smaller) not before 1941.

This situation has played an important role. The most famous tango, “La Cumparsita”, for example, was composed and played by the first time in Montevideo but recorded by its first time in Buenos Aires.