Silver Land Ballads

Book excerpt: Music in Argentina is true to Argentines' hearts and spirit. "Silver Land Ballads" is devoted to assessing and describing the formation and development of different kinds of folk and popular music in Argentina. Knowledge and analysis of how Indigenous, Spanish and other peoples' cultures created varieties of music related to Argentina's past and the present. From the tango of the bars of Buenos Aires at the end of the nineteenth century to the rock that proclaimed itself against dictatorship, this book will concentrate on Argentine music and its rhythms, instruments and themes. It analyses zamba, chacarera, chamamé and other folk dances and their regional and cultural characteristics. It also deals with the relations between circulation between Argentine music and trends globally, and how circulation works in both ways to give and receive inspiration. This book shows that from the origins of tango in the La Boca neighborhood in Buenos Aires to the present-day digital cumbia, Argentina sounds continue to echo in listeners' memories.