- Title: URUGUAY-CARNIVAL Uruguay celebrates Carnival to its own special beat
- Date: 7th February 2015
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DANCER FROM TROUPE "YAMBO KENIA", YAQUELINE VIERA, SAYING: "Incredible emotion. I am Argentine and I come each year to dance in the Llamadas."
- Embargoed: 22nd February 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Uruguay
- Country: Uruguay
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAE340FYH6CD7JCATRN3QP3W9UG
- Story Text: Uruguayans celebrated Carnival on Friday (February 6) with its annual parade of elaborate costumes and energetic dancing driven by hundreds of drums beating out the unique African-based rhythm known in Uruguay as "candombe".
Drum and dance troupes gathered in Montevideo for the highlight of the Carnival, the parades known as "Las Llamadas."
Energy was high as the audience, dancers and drummers prepared for the event.
Oscar Montano is a historian of the candombe beat. He explained that it is a rhythm that made its way from to Uruguay from Africa over a century ago.
"The parade brings together different components of nations from 1820 to 1850, which is when what we know today as the troupe of candombe came into being," he said.
Troupes brought in dancers from all over Latin America.
Yaima, who danced with the "Tronar de Tambores" troupe, came from Cuba.
"Participating in this parade is a new experience for me. Primarily because I am Cuba. I am not from Uruguay. It is an experience that I am going to enjoy very much the opportunity that Canela [referring to Tronar de Tambores director Julio Canela] has given me to dance in his troupe," she said.
Even Uruguay's Minister of Education and Culture, Julia Munoz, joined the fun.
"The Llamadas is a popular show which we always enjoy. Coming out with Canela is a pleasure, to prepare with all of this too. It is a night of pure enjoyment and the people that are watching the Llamadas also enjoy it. So the Carnival of Uruguay for me is the most beautiful," she said.
The thundering drums reverberated through the streets of Montevideo well into the night, with dancers, drummers and onlookers showing no signs of fading.
"Incredible emotion. I am Argentine and I come each year to dance in the Llamadas," said Yambo Kenia dancer, Yaqueline Viera.
The Llamadas began as a series of spontaneous demonstrations with their roots in Uruguay's African culture in the mid-1800s The first official Llamadas was held in 1956. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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