Uruguayan NYC is centered in Jackson Heights, Queens. International Tango Day is New York City’s main Uruguayan celebration.
Uruguayan Festivals in NYC
We don’t know of any specifically Uruguayan festivals in New York City. However, Uruguayans may participate in the Hispanic Day Parade, Queens Hispanic Day Parade, and the Junta Hispana street fair.
Hispanic Day Parade 2019
Sunday, October 13, 2019 MIDTOWN, NYC ~ Twenty-one countries from around the world celebrate our Hispanic Heritage on Fifth Avenue
Junta Hispana 2019
Sunday, July 21, 2019 FLUSHING MEADOWS CORONA PARK, Queens ~ Family entertainment, games, food and kiosks from twenty Hispanic countries. FREE ~ CANCELLED DUE TO NYC’S DANGEROUS HEAT ADVISORY
Queens Hispanic Day Parade 2018 celebrates our diverse heritage
Sunday, September 23, 2018 37th Avenue Jackson Heights, Queens ~ Argentine, Bolivian, Belizean, Chilean, Colombian, Costa Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Spanish, Uruguayan and Venezuelan culture.
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Uruguayan New York City
The Uruguayan Consulate is in Midtown East. The Banco de la Republica Oriental de Uruguay is in Murray Hill, Manhattan.
Uruguayan restaurants La Gran Uruguaya and El Chivito D’Oro are in Jackson Heights, Queens. Tabaré is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Charrúa is in the Lower East Side.
That super tall skinny skyscraper that rises from 432 Park Ave is designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly. The tallest residential skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere stands alone and towers over the city. You can’t miss it.
New Yorkers
Raul Jaurena is one of the world’s bandoneón masters. Mariana Parma is a very good dancer, choreographer and teacher of both tango and salsa.
Mariana Parma
Teaching Tango Tango La Nacional La Nacional 239 West 14th St between Seventh & Eighth Ave Chelsea, Manhattan Thursday, January 4, 2018
Raul Jaurena
Instituto Cervantes presents Raul Jaurena, one of the world’s bandoneón masters and 2007 Latin Grammy winner for best Tango Album, in concert Wed Oct 17, 2012, 7pm, $15 (more…)
The Uruguayan World
Most Uruguayans share a European heritage, especially Italian, but there is also Indigenous and African heritage. For a small country, Uruguay produces some great artists, musicians and soccer players.
Jorge Drexler is an Academy Award and Latin Grammy award winner. His poetry is stunning. He’s our favorite singer-songwriter in Spanish. His grandfather was a pianist in the Warsaw ghetto.
Bajofondo members Juan Campodónico and Luciano Supervielle are Uruguayan.
Joaquín Torres-Garcia was one of the few Latin Americans who were part of modernism in Europe. His signature style evolved through his career, but he was inspired by natural Indigenous philosophy and symbols. Torres-Garcia was a bridge in both directions. He brought Latin American culture to Europe, and European culture to Latin America. You can see his work at the Museum of Modern Art and Acquavella Galleries. His work is also regularly sold at auction at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
Luis Suárez of FC Barcelona is Uruguayan. The Uruguayan national football team, “La Celeste,” won the World Cup in 1930 (the first World Cup) and in 1950.
An almost universal colonizer myth is that Indigenous people were wiped out. If there are no people, you can take the land. La Campaña de Salsipuedes in 1831 was actually a Uruguayan military campaign to kill all the Indigenous people. The reality is that colonizers kill the men and take the women. We don’t actually die out. We intermarry. Since the 1980s, there has been a renaissance of Indigenous identity of the Charrúa people of what is now Uruguay.
Jorge Drexler is the Philosopher King of Latin Pop Music
November 15, 2018 LAS VEGAS, Univision
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Carmelo Arden Quin : Invention ~ Uruguayan modern art at Leon Tovar Gallery
Influential modern artist and co-founder of the Grupo Madí. Leon Tovar Gallery Chelsea, Manhattan Monday – Friday April 26 – July 27, 2018
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The Worlds of Joaquín Torres-García
Acquavella Galleries Upper East Side, Manhattan Monday – Saturday April 12 – May 25, 2018 EXTENDED June 29, 2018
Uruguayan Sculptor Gonzalo Fonseca was Inspired by Ancient Civilizations
October 25, 2017 – February 12, 2018 NOGUCHI MUSEUM Long Island City, Queens
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Bajofondo, Latin Rock from Argentina and Uruguay
Sunday, October 14, 2012 HIGHLINE BALLROOM Chelsea, NYC
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Uruguayan Culture
Nestled between Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay shares elements of both cultures. Uruguay is famous for tango, gauchos, and its beef.
Tango is a mixture of cultures. Indigenous people around the world dance as an expression of faith and belonging to a community. English country dance (folk dancing) became popular with the English royal court. From there it jumped to the French royal court and became the contredanse. That came to the Americas through French Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Spanish brought their version, the contradanza to Havana as the danzón, and the Haitian diaspora added a more syncopated style. The habanera is the root of the Latin social dances. Habanera means the way they dance in Havana. Dancing in the West and Central African Candomblé faith of Brazil, became candombe in Uruguay. Candombe mixed with habanera in the Black neighborhoods of Montevideo and Buenos Aires into milonga. European immigrants brought the bandonéon portable church organ from Germany and milonga became tango. Rich kids sent to grow up in France brought home the valse and these became the three tango rhythms danced today: milonga, tango, vals. That’s roughly the story of tango. In 2009, UNESCO recognized Uruguayan candombe, and Uruguayan and Argentine tango as part of the intangible heritage of humanity.
Spaniards brought horses and cattle in 1611, and let them loose east of the Uruguay River. Over time they grew into a natural resource. Mixed race people worked as cattle herders and the gaucho was born.
Parrilla (grilled meat) is traditional. The beef is world-renowned because it is grass-fed and not industrial farmed like in the U.S. Pasta is an Italian influence.
Mate drinking is an Indigenous Guarani influence.
Candombe dancing, Carnival and the Umbanda Orisha faith are African influences. The murga is a form of Carnival theatre. Llamadas are candombe parades. They are the equivalent of a Caribbean mas (carnival group). Uruguayans of all heritages join the llamadas. This African heritage culture has become mostly white. The mixing is wonderful.
Men kiss each other on the cheek and embrace like Argentines and Southern Italians.
After tango, pericón is the national folk dance. It is a form of contradanza/contredanse/country dance, the first international social dance.
Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (1855-1931) is the national poet. He is best known for Tabaré (1888). His epic poem is a metaphor for what was done to the Indigenous Charrúa. It’s the tragic love story of Tabaré and Blanca, a young Charrúa man and a Spanish woman. It has almost over 4,000 verses.
Celebrate Candombe Day!
Thursday, December 3, 2020 MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay
Celebrate International Tango Day!
Friday, December 11, 2020 DECEMBER 11
Gaucho are the Cowboys of the South American Pampas
ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, BRAZIL, PARAGUAY
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Tango
The African-European social dance of Argentina and Uruguay has become popular all around the world
Uruguay’s 2018 World Cup Run ends in Quarter Finals vs France
Friday, July 6, 2018 NIZHNIY NOVGOROD, Russia
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Uruguay
Montevideo is the capital. The old city center has lush Art Deco buildings. Punta del Este is a popular beach resort, the Saint-Tropez of South America. The old quarter of Colonia del Sacramento, once a Portuguese town, is a World Heritage Site. The Fray Bentos Industrial Landscape is another. It’s a well-preserved meat processing town.
Celebrate Candombe Day!
Thursday, December 3, 2020 MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay
Celebrate International Tango Day!
Friday, December 11, 2020 DECEMBER 11
Celebrate Uruguayan Independence Day!
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 – LA FLORIDA, Uruguay August 25, 1825
