Experience candombe drummers in the street

On any night of any day of the year on the moonlit streets of Montevideo, you can run into a comparsa (as troupes of candombe drummers and dancers are known) practising for the next carnival.

So if you hear the familiar ta ta ta ta-ta, head over to the crowd and experience the real Uruguay.

What happens at a comparsa

At the start, a fire is started and the drum skins are warmed to tighten them (see photo above). People mill around, usually buying litre bottles of beer from the closest kiosko, hanging out on the pavement, smoking.

Once the drums are ready and everyone is gathered (this takes some time, don’t go if you’re not prepared to be patient), the comparsa drummers line up, the dancers get out the front, and the drums strike up.

The comparsa will parade slowly (very slowly) down the street, usually for 8 blocks or so. Cars will stop for the parade. Once the comparsa reaches their end point (wherever that may be), they take a break.  Usually a fire is relit for the drums. Everyone gets more beer.

Twenty minutes or so later, the comparsa regroups, the drums strike up again, and everyone processes back to the starting point.

This one I filmed on the streets of Palermo during winter time, with months to go till carnival.