Murga

All we need is music, sweet music

And there'll be music everywhere

There'll be laughing, singing and music swinging

And dancing in the street

It doesn't matter what you wear
Just a long as you are there


C'mon every guy, grab a girl
Everywhere around the world


And there'll be dancing

Dancing in the street

Murga is the name of the song and dance they perform during the Carnaval season in Uruguay and parts of Argentina. In Buenos Aires each Barrio, or neighborhood, has a band and group of dancers who preform in the parks during the season. One night I bought a ticket to go to a concert and was walking around before it started. I saw two guys on the street with snare drums and in my best spanish asked if we were having a concert. They said a few streets away they were having one. So I went with them . It turned out to be a practice for the weekend Murga session they were to have. I was the only foreigner to be found in this back alley street next to the train tracks.

So I threw my concert ticked in the trash and stayed for the street concert. About 60 children were in front of the parade. Behind them four teenagers practiced the murga dance, a type of break dance and in the rear were the drummers. Eight base drums with cymbols and six snare drummers. For about an hours they walked slowly up and down the side street playing and dancing, playing and dancing. There was no way I could be a bystander and not participate. After twenty minutes of observing I jumped into the practice and did the Murga dance.

Two nights later after I was walking to the bus in another part of the city, an hour walk from where I saw the practice. I heard drums in the distance so I followed the noise. It turned out the be the same people I had met two nights earlier practicing. But this night was not a practice. Marching down the street toward the plaze at the presidential palace, hundreds of people walked, danced and drummed. They wore big hats and colorful clothing. In about five minutes we all arrived at the park and everyone formed a large circle around the dancers and drummers. And they danced and drummed for the next half hour.