i love uruguay

I love Uruguay.
It’s a strange country to inspire such devotion, I imagine. But it’s sort of the Zambia of South America: small and easily overlooked; dominated by its neighbors; once prosperous, now in rougher times; and friendly as all get out. I loved my couple of days there last fall and have secret plans to buy a house in Colonia del Sacramento and go write my novels.
Which explains this link to the Uruguayan Invasion. It was musical, not military, a la the British Invasion: For one shining moment in the 1960s, Uruguayan rock bands were the class of the continent, fueling Beatlemania-style mayhem among the youth of Argentina.
The key bands were Los Shakers and Los Mockers — who pinched the styles of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, respectively. (And were, naturally, great rivals.) First, Los Shakers, whom I absolutely love:

I have a great desire to track down a copy of La Conferencia Secreta del Toto’s Bar, which is supposedly their Sgt. Pepper’s, mixing psychedelia with candombe.
Now Los Mockers:

The Uruguayan Invasion, sadly, died out in 1973 with the start of Uruguay’s military dictatorship. Dictatorships have a way of doing that to pop music. All about “Ururock” here.

3 thoughts on “i love uruguay”

  2. waaaooou, this is the music my father used to listen to, when he was a teenager. Watching the clips in your post feels so good, specially Los Shakers. Can’t believe this stuff is on the web.
    I’ve heard my father ramble all my life about how, and why this groups were, and will be the best uruguayan music groups. The neverending discussion.
    thank you, I may even post about this subject, and reference your article.

  3. Okay, so I am a little slow on the uptake here, but I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with your lede.
    I am lucky to live in an area in NJ with a fairly substantial community of Uruguayans (relatively speaking, of course, for a country of only 3.5 million) and have become a full-on Uruguayophile. The food, the soccer, the culture, the people (well, my girlfriend is Uruguayan, so perhaps this was all inevitable)–so much to love!
    The only thing left is for me to visit . . .

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