Remembering a giant of Uruguayan music

Rubén Rada took Afro-Uruguayan music to the world, and helped pioneer the Candombe Beat genre. He passed away in August aged 83.

As a small child he nearly died of tuberculosis, but once he recovered he threw himself into the country's famous month-long carnival, playing in various popular bands when he was just 10 years old. Rubén's musical career, spanning seven decades, has won the admiration of Sir Paul McCartney and he once taught Sir Mick Jagger how to dance Candombe - the Afro-Uruguayan music that he's championed since childhood. But it took Rubén decades of singing and facing racism, hardship and even self-imposed exile in Europe, before he could really make a living from his music in his home country. He spoke to Louise Morris in 2024.

(Photo: Rubén Rada, an Afro-Uruguayan man in his 80s, has black hair and a white beard, and smiles broadly with his hand on his heart.
Credit: Louise Morris)

Clip of Ruben's concert at the Auditoria del Sodre in Montevideo: Carnaval, Música y otros inventos

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Producer/presenter: Louise Morris
Voice-over: Nandy Cabrera