List of South American folk music traditions

This is a list of folk music traditions, with styles, dances, instruments and other related topics. The term folk music can not be easily defined in a precise manner; it is used with widely varying definitions depending on the author, intended audience and context within a work. Similarly, the term traditions in this context does not connote any strictly-defined criteria. Music scholars, journalists, audiences, record industry individuals, politicians, nationalists and demagogues may often have occasion to address which fields of folk music are distinct traditions based along racial, geographic, linguistic, religious, tribal or ethnic lines, and all such peoples will likely use different criteria to decide what constitutes a "folk music tradition". This list uses the same general categories used by mainstream, primarily English-language, scholarly sources, as determined by relevant statements of fact and the internal structure of works.

These traditions may coincide entirely, partially or not at all with geographic, political, linguistic or cultural boundaries. Very few, if any, music scholars would claim that there are any folk music traditions that can be considered specific to a distinct group of people and with characteristics undiluted by contact with the music of other peoples; thus, the folk music traditions described herein overlap in varying degrees with each other.

Country	Elements	Dance	Instrumentation	Other topics
Afro-Colombian[1]	champeta	contradanza currulao mazurka polka	drum marimba shaker
Argentina[2][3][4][5]	baguala chamamé cifra folklorica milonga payada tango tonada tunga-tunga[6] vidala zamba	bataclán chamamé chacarera chaya cuarteto cueca gato milonga tango zamba	accordion bandoneón flute guitar guitarrón harp piano violin	candombe compadrito lunfardo
Aymara[7][8]			bombo cajas charango pinkillu pitu qina siku tarka wankara
Bolivia[5]	taquirari Tinku diablada saya	bailecito cueca huayñitos
Brazil[5][9][10][11][12]	boi Capoeira song choro frevo literatura de cordel maracatu modinha repentismo samba	baião batuque bloco Capoeira carimbó cururu xote vanerão fandango forró jongo kankuku lundu maxixe modinha muñeres samba xango	agogô atabaque berimbau cavaquinho clarinet cuíca pandeiros piano reco-recos sanfona surdos tamborim triangle viola violão	Candomblé Carnival escolas de samba
Chile[5][13]		chocolate cueca periconas sirillas tras trasera valses chilotes zamacueca	guitar Chilean guitarrón harp tambourine hand-clapping
Colombia[1][5][14][15]	cumbia bullerengue cumbiamba puya lumbalú mapalé paseo porro tambora son palenquero puya vallenata son vallenato merengue vallenato paseo vallenato bambuco pasillo vals danza rajaleña rumba campesina guabina sanjuanero torbellino currulao juga makerulle porro chocoano contradanza andarele aguabajo tonada pasaje contrapunteo copla golpe pajarillo llanera corrido galerón joropo mento calypso reggae	bambuco sanjuanero cumbia currulao joropo porro	accordion bandola bandolin bass drum bombardino bombo caja capacho carrizo clarinet cuatro cymbal flauto de millo gaita guacharaca guache guachos harp marimba marimbula pito saxophone snare drum tambor hembra tambor macho tambora tiple trumpet tuba
Ecuador[8][13][14]	albazo pasillo pasacalle tonada yarawi vals currulao andarele bomba del chota capishka	currulao	bombo marimba panpipe rondador pinkillu bomba requinto
Andean[16]	wayñu marinera rasgueado vals criollo yaraví carnavalito	punchay kashwa ayñu incaico sayas	Andean harp cajón charango guitarra mandolin panpipe qina tinya vihuela violin	Indigenismo payadore
Kallawaya[13]	k'antu		arca ira ch'inisku wankara zampona
Peru[5]		alcatraz festejo landó marinera tondero vals	cajón guitar bass bugle
Quechua[8][13][17]	sanjuan vacación	ayñu sanjuan	antara charango harp qina violin guitar drum	golpeador matrimonio misai wawa velorio
Sirionó[18]			None
Suyá[19]	akía		rattle
Uruguay[20]	candombe milongón murga chamarrita tango malambo serranera	candombe uruguayan polka pericón tango chotis gato	piano (drum) chico repique uruguayan guitarrón bass drum snare drum cymbals acoustic guitar accordion	Carnival party tradition llamadas tamboriles rural tasks nostalgia romanticism
Venezuela[5][13][21]	Calypso de El Callao Fulía gaita llanera parranda sangeo aguinaldo Galerón Malagueña Punto Venezuelan bambuco Venezuelan work songs	joropo merengue polo tamunangue Venezuelan waltz Venezuelan polka	culoepuya cuatro furruco harp mandolin maraca mina quitiplas tambor bandola	Dancing Devils of Yare Llanero
Paraguay	guaranía Paraguayan polka Chamamé	Paraguayan polka	harp Guitar Accordion

Notes

1. Burton, Kim, "El Sonido Dorado" in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 372–385
2. Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 59–60
3. Peiro, Teddy and Jan Fairley, "Vertical Expression of Horizontal Desire", and Fairley's "Dancing Cheek to Cheek", both in the Rough Guide to World Music, pgs. 304–314 and 315–316
4. Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 190
5. World Music Central Archived 2006-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
6. Though Fairley's essay places cuarteto and its tunga-tunga rhythm, and the modern folklorica trend, in a folk music context, their description indicates that all three topics are a largely modern subject, and may be more closely associated with popular than folk music.
7. Turino, pp. 239–240
8. Fairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273–288
9. Manuel, Popular Musics, p. 64
10. Turino, pp. 245–246
11. Cleary, David, "Meu Brasil Brasileiro", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 332–349
12. Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 191
13. Schechter, John M., "Latin America/Ecuador" in Worlds of Music, pp. 376–427
14. Turino, p. 244
15. Manuel, Popular Musics, pp. 50–52
16. Fairley, Jan, "Beyond the Ponchos" and "An Uncompromising Song", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 273–288, and pp. 362–371
17. Turino, pp. 239–240, 242
18. Nettl, Folk and Traditional Music, p. 149
19. Turino, p. 243
20. Slater, Russ, In a Nutshell: Candombe Sounds and Colours
21. Sweeney, Philip and Dan Rosenberg, "Salsa Con Gasolina", in the Rough Guide to World Music, pp. 624–630

Sources

• Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham (2000). Rough Guide to World Music (First ed.). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.
• Lankford, Ronald D. Jr. (2005). The Changing Voice Music of Protest USA. New York: Schirmer Trade Books. ISBN 0-8256-7300-3.
• Philip V. Bohlman; Bruno Nettl; Charles Capwell; Thomas Turino; Isabel K. F. Wong (1997). Excursions in World Music (Second ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-230632-8.
• Nettl, Bruno (1965). Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
• Fujie, Linda; James T. Koetting; David P. McAllester; David Reck; John M. Schechter; Mark Slobin; R. Anderson Sutton (1992). Jeff Todd Titan (ed.). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples (Second ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-872602-2.
• van der Merwe, Peter (1989). Origins of the Popular Style: The Antecedents of Twentieth-Century Popular Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-316121-4.
• "International Dance Glossary". World Music Central. Archived from the original on February 7, 2006. Retrieved April 3, 2006.