A murga group performing on the occasion of the inauguration of president Tabaré Vázquez, Montevideo, March 2005 (Marcello Casal Jr/ABr)

Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed primarily in Montevideo, Uruguay during the Carnival season. Murga groups also operate in Argentina, though to a much lesser extent. Murga has a counterpart in Spain from which it is derived, but over time the two have diverged into distinct forms. Download high resolution version (1500x984, 218 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1500x984, 218 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (born 17 January 1940) is the current President of Uruguay. ... Montevideo, Minnesota, Montevideo is the capital, chief port and largest city in Uruguay (population 1. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Montevideo, Minnesota, Montevideo is the capital, chief port and largest city in Uruguay (population 1. ... The Eastern Republic of Uruguay (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay) is a small country located in southern South America. ... See also: Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnivàle Swabian-Alemannic carnival clowns in Wolfach, Germany A carnival parade is a public celebration, combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season. ... Argentina is a country in southern South America, situated between the Andes in the west and the southern Atlantic Ocean in the east. ... The Kingdom of Spain or Spain (Spanish and Galician: Reino de España or España; Catalan: Regne dEspanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma) is a country located in the southwest of Europe. ...

Murga is performed by a group of a maximum of 17 people, usually men. In the months prior to Carnival, which takes place late January and early February, each group will prepare a musical play consisting of a suite of songs and recitative (heightened speech) lasting around 45 minutes. This suite will be performed on popular stages in the various neighbourhoods, known as tablados, throughout the Carnival period. Groups also vie against one another in a very prestigious official competition. Recitative, a form of composition often used in operas, oratorios, cantatas and similar works, is described as a melodic speech set to music, or a descriptive narrative song in which the music follows the words. ...

Content is based on a particular theme, chosen by the group, which serves to provide commentary on events in Uruguay or elsewhere over the preceding year. Consequently, murga lends itself well to being used as a form of popular resistance. For example, during the dictatorship in Uruguay in the 1970s, groups like Araca La Cana became known for their left-leaning tendencies, subversive commentary and oppositional stance. Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution...

A murga group performing on the occasion of the inauguration of president Tabaré Vázquez, Montevideo, March 2005 (Marcello Casal Jr/ABr)

A traditional murga group is comprised of a chorus and three percussionists and this is the type of murga performed on stages at Carnival. The singers perform in polyphony using up to five vocal parts. Vocal production tends to be nasal and loud with little variation in volume. The percussion instruments, derived from the European military band, are bombo (a shallow bass drum worn at the waist and played horizontally), redoblante (snare drum) and platillos (cymbals). The two most important pieces of the performance are the opening song (saludo) and the exit song (retirada or despedida). These get played on the radio during the Carnival period and some of them, such as the Saludo Araca La Cana 1937, are cherished by Uruguayans as cultural icons. Download high resolution version (2000x1312, 481 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (2000x1312, 481 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Tabaré Vázquez Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas (born 17 January 1940) is the current President of Uruguay. ... Montevideo, Minnesota, Montevideo is the capital, chief port and largest city in Uruguay (population 1. ... A bass drum in a drum kit A bass drum is a large, heavy drum that produces a thump of low but indefinite pitch. ... The snare drum or side drum is a tubular drum made of wood or metal with skins, or heads, stretched over the top and bottom openings. ... It is also possible that you want to know about the Cymbalum instrument. ...

Murguistas dress in elaborate, colourful, jester-like costumes. Staging is sparse with minimal use of props. The singers tend to be foregrounded with the percussionists at the back or off to the side of the stage.

The murga musical style is sometimes incorporated into Uruguayan popular music. Examples of artists who have included murga in their arrangements are Jaime Roos, Rubén Rada and Washington Canario Luna.