Associating Afro-Uruguayan Candombe with Niger-Congo and Other Latin Music

Abstract

After years of government whitewashing, Uruguay is not often considered in discussions surrounding the African diaspora, even less so in conversations about African percussion or Afro-Latin music. Still, the transatlantic slave trade created a Black minority in the country, which has influenced the popular culture with it’s Afro-Uruguayan drumming style, candombe. This thesis aims to clarify candombe’s role as a contributing member to the story of Afro-Latin music and integrate it into existing scholarship which the Afro-Latin musician and scholar will recognize. Because candombe is lesser known among studies of Latin music, chapter 1 will give background and history to this music. Chapter 2 will musically analyze the African foundation of candombe to establish ancestral traits which have become common knowledge in other Afro-Latin styles. Finally, chapter 3 will study candombe as a contemporary of better studied Afro-Latin styles, engaging it in the current conversations of Latin music.