The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish and italian traditions and related to similar forms found in many American countries.
Candombe is a style of music and dance that originated in Uruguay among the descendants of liberated African slaves. In 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed candombe in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Argentina, Panama, Spain and Uruguay during the Carnival season. Murga groups also operate in the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; the Argentinian murga is more centred on dancing and less on vocals than the Uruguayan one. Uruguayan murga has a counterpart in Cadiz, Spain from which it is derived, the chirigota, but over time the two have diverged into distinct forms.
Uruguayan rock first emerged in Uruguay in the 1950s. The real breakthrough for rock in Uruguay, however, as in much of the world, came with the arrival of The Beatles in the early 1960s. Although the country has a small population and is far-removed from the world's cultural centres, rock music from these land, which has always taken on an identity forged from a mix of different cultures and local peculiarities, crossing different genres and styles, has largely been a well-kept secret outside the region. Thanks to the Internet and easy access to music libraries through streaming services such as Spotify, this is now changing.
Gerardo Hernán Matos Rodríguez, also known as Becho, was a Uruguayan musician, composer and journalist.
Omar Ruben Rada Silva is a Uruguayan percussionist, composer, singer and television personality.
Ángel Eduardo Mateo López was a highly influential Uruguayan singer, songwriter, guitarist, and arranger. He played an important role in the development of modern Uruguayan music that combines beat, jazz, bossa nova and local rhythms like candombe in a way similar to Brazilian Tropicalismo. Academy Award-winner Jorge Drexler cited Mateo as a big influence.
Alfredo Zitarrosa was a Uruguayan singer-songwriter, poet and journalist. He specialized in Uruguayan and Argentinean folk genres such as zamba and milonga, and he became a chief figure in the nueva canción movement in his country. A staunch supporter of Communist ideals, he lived in exile between 1976 and 1984. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential singer-songwriters of Latin America.
Traidores is a Uruguayan punk rock band founded during the post-dictatorship disarray of mid-1980s Uruguay.
Circe Maia,, is a Uruguayan poet, essayist, translator, and teacher.
Jorge Galemire was a Uruguayan guitarist, arranger, composer and vocalist and member of Trelew along with vocalist Karen Ann. Galemire is recognized as one of the earliest creators and exponents of candombe beat, on May 22, 2008, he was awarded a Graffiti for his lifetime's work. In 1975 he participated for a short time in the group Canciones para no dormir la siesta. In 1977 he co-founded Los que iban cantando, one of the most important groups in Uruguayan popular music during the military dictatorship.
Mauricio Rosencof is a Uruguayan playwright, poet and journalist from Florida, Uruguay. Since 2005 he has been Director of Culture of the Municipality of Montevideo.
José María Carbajal Pruzzo, known as El Sabalero was an Uruguayan singer, composer and guitarist.
Leonardo Garet is a Uruguayan writer, teacher, and member of the National Academy of Uruguay.
Mariana Ingold is a composer, instrumentalist, singer and teacher belonging to the movement of Uruguayan music, Mariana has been active as an artist since 1977 in Uruguay and internationally.
Hugo Fattoruso is a composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. As well as developing a career as a soloist, he has participated and performed in many different genres: Trio Fattoruso, Hot Blowers, Los Shakers, Opa, Eduardo Mateo, etc. He has collaborated also with such renowned artists as : Airto Moreira, Abraham Laboriel, Manolo Badrena, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Ruben Rada, Djavan, etc.
Lágrima Ríos was the stage name of Lida Melba Benavídez Tabárez, a prominent candombe and tango singer of Afro-Uruguayan descent. Her voice was powerful and she is also known as the "Black Pearl of the Tango" and the "Lady of Candombe". Her rendition of Vieja viola was listed in the book 1001 Songs you must hear before you die.
Laura Canoura Sande is a singer and composer of popular Uruguayan music. She is considered one of the most renowned female solo artists in Uruguay.
Diego Janssen is an Uruguayan guitarist, composer and record producer.
