Cuarteto or cuartetazo (Spanish: quartet) is a musical genre born in Córdoba, Argentina. Córdoba Córdoba is a city located in the foothills of the Sierra Chica mountains on the Suquía river, the center of Argentinas most productive agricultural area. ...

The roots of cuarteto are Italian and Spanish dances, notably pasodoble. The name was coined due to the fact that the earliest dancehall greats were invariably four-piece bands.

Cuarteto is almost always upbeat; its rhythm variety is very similar to that of Dominican merengue. Merengue is a type of lively, joyful music and dance that comes from the Dominican Republic. ...

Cuarteto Leo was the leading cuarteto band for almost 30 years running until the 1970s, when cuarteto became one of the cornerstones of Córdoba's cultural identity—together with Hortensia magazine. Both reflected the ways of the lower classes, and set up an alternative to the Buenos Aires-centered culture that television was spreading to the rest of the country. Buenos Aires (Good Air in Spanish, originally meaning Fair Winds) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest cities in South America. ...

In the 1980s, Carlos La Mona Giménez became the foremost exponent of cuarteto after the break-up of the two-member Cuarteto de Oro ("Golden Quartet"). He established a pattern of nonsense humor and extravagant behavior that many tried to follow without success. One of his most popular songs was Quién se ha tomado todo el vino ("Who drank all of the wine?"), which was danced with a characteristic hand move.

Others, such as producer-bandleader Negro Videla, expanded the roots of cuarteto, and even went to the Dominican Republic and Colombia to acquire a broader musical culture.

In the 1990s, the Trulalá band enjoyed great support from dancers and were endorsed by the Catholic church for avoiding racy themes in their lyrics.

Rodrigo Bueno became the leading cuarteto singer in the mid-1990s, popularizing Cuarteto also in the middle-class, but died in a car crash in 1999; many people believe the crash was not an accident. His song La mano de Dios (the hand of God), which celebrates Diego Maradona through his most famous goal, has become an anthem for Argentines. Maradona and the World Cup trophy Diego Armando Maradona (nicknamed El Diego, Pelusa, and El Pibe) (born October 30, 1960) is a former Argentine football player. ... The Hand of God goal was scored by Diego Maradona in the quarter-final match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup between England and Argentina, played 22 June 1986 in Mexico Citys Estadio Azteca. ...

Cuarteto was one of the genres that gave birth to the Buenos Aires tropical scene, which was renamed as bailanta in the 1990s following the usage of Corrientes province. Categories: Argentina geography stubs | Argentine provinces ...

See also

• Music of Argentina