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 Montevideo, Uruguay, Panama, Argentina and Badajoz, Spain during the Carnival season. Murga groups also operate in the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; the Argentine 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.
Natalia Marisa Oreiro Iglesias is a Uruguayan singer, actress, and fashion designer. Oreiro began her career in telenovelas. Since 2008 she has switched to work primarily in films. Oreiro has worked on social awareness shows and events for organizations like Greenpeace and UNICEF, the latter of which designated her as ambassador for Argentina and Uruguay in September 2011. She has been included in Esquire magazine's "The Sexiest Woman Alive Atlas" list.
Omár Rubén "Negro" Rada Silva is a Uruguayan percussionist, composer, and singer. He is closely associated with candombe, a genre built around a chorus of tamboriles, Uruguayan barrel drums. Rada has recorded more than thirty albums. His music, labelled candombe beat, combines pop, rock, and other styles with Uruguayan sounds, such as candombe drums and murga choruses. Rada has composed some of Uruguay's most cherished songs.
Los Shakers were a popular rock band in 1960s and was a part of the Uruguayan Invasion in Latin America. They were heavily influenced by the look and sound of the Beatles. In the late 1960s they would broaden and expand their musical direction before breaking up in 1969.
Angel Eduardo Mateo Lopez was a 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.
Jorge Cumbo was an Argentine musician who played the Andean quena flute, combining jazz and Argentine folklore. After early encounters with folklore under his mentor Chango Farías Gomez, and three years at the conservatory, Cumbo discovered the quena flute. After learning the quena from Una Ramos, Cumbo joined Ramos and Jorge Milchberg in the group "Urubamba" with whom he performed from 1970 to 1976. In 1973, "Urubamba" became famous through their cooperation with Paul Simon.
Federico "Freddy" Ramos is a Uruguayan guitarist, arranger, producer and composer based in Santa Monica, California.
Renée Pietrafesa Bonnet was a French and Uruguayan composer, pianist, organist, harpsichordist and conductor. Her compositions spanned both popular and classical genres which included Electroacoustic music.
Hugo Fattoruso was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1943. 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.
María Rosa Gallo was an Argentine actress.
El chevrolé is a 1999 Uruguayan film.
Luis Alberto "Beto" Satragni was an Uruguayan musician, composer and bassist whose career developed mainly in Argentina.
Laura Canoura is a singer and composer of popular Uruguayan music. She is considered one of the most renowned female solo artists in Uruguay.
María de los Ángeles Vera Montecoral, known professionally as Pelusa Vera, is a Uruguayan actress, considered "one of the most prominent figures of theater and television in Uruguay." She began her career as a model, but then went to the theater and from there to television. She also ventured into radio. She was part of the cast of both Uruguayan and Argentine humor shows, such as Alta comedia, Teatro como en el teatro, Decalegrón, Jaujarana, Hiperhumor, and Zapping.
The Graffiti Awards are honors recognizing achievement in Uruguayan music. They were created in 2003.
Eduardo Pedro Lombardo, nicknamed Edú and Pitufo (Smurf), is a Uruguayan musician, composer, and singer. He stood out as a teenager as a member of several murgas in his country, in addition to accompanying renowned artists as a percussionist. Since 2007 he has developed a distinguished career as a soloist.
