Folkloric aspects in Barrios' music

Barrios’ guitar works were largely late-Romantic in character, despite his having lived well into the twentieth century. Many of them are also adaptations of or are influenced by the folk music of Latin America, and mostly of them are of a virtuosic nature.

In ways to understand Barrios' musical intent we can break down his works into three essential categories:

- folkloric
- imitative
- religious

In this post I would like to leave you with just a few words on the folkloric elements heavily present in Barrios' guitar works.

The folk music of Paraguay (including the polca paraguaya, vals and zamba) provided the young guitarist Barrios with his first introduction to music. Barrios paid tribute to the music and people of his native land by composing pieces for classical guitar modeled after folk songs from South and Central America.

He composed Choros (which is a form born out of Rio de Janerio), Tangos (originated in Argentina), Cuecos (from Chile), and Danzas Paraguayas (from his homeland Paraguay), amongst others.

These are just some examples of a perfect marriage between folklore and classical guitar.

:)