Cosquín Festival

The Cosquín Folk Festival (not to be confused with the Cosquín Rock festival) is one of the most important folk music festivals of Argentina, and most important in Latin America.

It lasts 9 days and takes place in the second half of January in the city of Cosquín, a scenic, Punilla Valley location in Córdoba Province. The tradition used to refer to nine moons of Cosquín.

The first Festival was held Cosquín between 21 and 29 January 1961. The initiative came from a group of city residents led by Dr. Reinaldo Wisner and Dr. Alejandro Guinder, who decided to organize a folklore music and culture show during the summer holidays, in order to attract tourism. The presence of renowned artists from around the country exceeded all expectations, and the festival became the largest annual folk event in the country, as well as one of the most important in Latin America.

The Cosquín Festival unfolded into a boom of folklore music in the 1960s and '70s, becoming the nation's best-known venue for the characteristic music of the Argentine hinterland (i.e. the country with the exception of the city of Buenos Aires, whose music has traditionally been the tango). Cosquín prompted a renewal of the powerful local folk music among younger listeners in particular, and has persisted in the Argentine musical scene since.

Its organizers then had the good sense to organize Cosquín Festival, not only as a musical competition, but as an integral folk experience, centered on the famous "peñas" outside the official event in which musicians from all backgrounds sing all night, until the candles do not burn". In 1997 the attendees to the festival were estimated in 600,000.

Since the second edition of the festival in 1962, the important Radio Belgrano of Buenos Aires and a network of stations nationwide, began broadcasting Nine Cosquín Moons live, familiarizing millions of listeners in the far-flung country to the festival. After the success of the third edition, President José María Guido, by Decree 1547/63, designated the last week of January as National Folklore Week, and established its headquarters at Cosquín.

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Wikipedia