Cuarteto ( es, quartet), sometimes called cuartetazo, is a musical genre born in Córdoba,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The roots of the cuarteto ensemble are in

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and

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dance ensembles. The name was coined because the early dance-hall numbers were invariably four-piece bands (

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

- bass). Cuarteto is almost always upbeat; its rhythm range is similar to that of modern Dominican merengue. In the 1970s, cuarteto became one of the cornerstones of Córdoba's cultural identity—together with ''Hortensia'' magazine. Both reflected a local brand of popular culture overlooked by the establishment, and proposed an alternative to the

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

-centered culture that television was spreading to the rest of the country. Cuarteto was one of the genres that gave birth to the Buenos Aires ''tropical'' scene, which was renamed as '' bailanta'' in the 1990s following the usage of

Corrientes province Corrientes (, ‘currents’ or ‘streams’; gn, Taragui), officially the Province of Corrientes ( es, Provincia de Corrientes; gn, Taragüí Tetãmini) is a province in northeast Argentina, in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by (fr ...

Famous Names

Cuarteto Leo Cuarteto ( es, quartet), sometimes called cuartetazo, is a musical genre born in Córdoba, Argentina. The roots of the cuarteto ensemble are in Italian and Spanish dance ensembles. The name was coined because the early dance-hall numbers were i ...

was the leading cuarteto band for almost 30 years, back in the 1970s. It established the sonic texture that prevails in cuarteto to this day. In the 1980s, Carlos ''Mona'' Jiménez became the foremost exponent of cuarteto after the break-up of his two-member ''Cuarteto de Oro'' ("Golden Quartet"). He established a pattern of nonsense humour and extravagant behavior that many tried to ape without much success. One of his most popular songs was ''Quién se ha tomado todo el vino'' ("Who drank all the wine?"), which was danced with a characteristic hand move. Others, such as producer-bandleader ''Negro'' Videla, travelled to the Dominican Republic and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

to expand the range of their repertoire. Videla is the unofficial ambassador of Dominican music in cuarteto, with successful covers of merengue hits. Since the late 1980s, the

Tru-la-lá Tru-la-lá is one of the best known cuarteto Cuarteto ( es, quartet), sometimes called cuartetazo, is a musical genre born in Córdoba, Argentina. The roots of the cuarteto ensemble are in Italian and Spanish dance ensembles. The name was co ...

band has had great support from dancers. At one point they were endorsed by the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church for avoiding racy themes in their lyrics. All in all, they have sold over a million records.

Rodrigo Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name ''Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vis ...

became the leading cuarteto singer in the mid-1990s, and made inroads into Buenos Aires middle-class audiences. He died in a car crash on June 24, 2000. Many people believe the crash was not an accident, as Rodrigo was (allegedly) a pawn in a feud between rival mobsters. His song ''La mano de Dios'' (The Hand of God), which celebrates

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

through his most famous goal, has become a classic dance song in Argentina, and was covered by Maradona himself in his successful 2005 talk show.

Gary (Argentine singer) Edgar Efraín Fuentes, better known as Gary ( Amboy (Córdoba) 15 February 1962 – 9 November 2001) was an Argentine singer of cuarteto songs. His records, first as one of the singers with Tru-la-lá Tru-la-lá is one of the best known cuartet ...

was another Cuarteto singer with the

band, who died of natural causes in 2001.

External links

Spanish language portal
{{Authority control Argentine styles of music

Southern Cone music Southern Cone music, includes the music of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. It comes in many varieties. From the Argentine tango, to the Electro music, from the cuarteto to Rock. In Argentina the tango is perhaps the most famous music, becoming famous ...

Argentine dances Dance in Argentina

Famous Names

See also

External links