Chamamé is a baile popular, a social dance, and is not considered to be one of the folkloric dances of Argentina. It is a couple dance with a closed embrace. There is no set choreography. The man improvises according to his taste, both with dance steps and Zapateo (see end of this section of instructions on Zapateos). Chamamé is a fusion of many roots including the indigenous Guaraní, the baroque music of the Jesuit monks who arrived to the area in the 1600s, African rhythms of freed slaves from Brazil and then, in the 1800s, the European immigrants such as the Ukrainians, Italians, Germans, Russians, and Basques who brought their polkas and schottische, and the accordion – the instrument most associated with the genre. Chamamé has its deepest roots in the northeastern part of Argentina called the Litoral, the land close to the rivers (in between Uruguay and Paraná rivers). The town of Yapeyú is considered the birthplace of chamamé music. There the monks and the Guaraní built the largest instrument factory in all of Latin America. The music and dance were disdained by the middle and upper classes as music for country folk. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the music became a vehicle for social commentary and embraced by more of the population.

Presented by Pampa Cortés in 2013. View pdf here.