Latin America

Raíces

Also known as roots music

A broad roots label used for Latin American folk and traditional music, not a sharply bounded genre.

Origins and context

The term is used to describe music grounded in inherited local and national traditions across Latin America, where folk repertories developed through indigenous, African, and European contact.

Latin America

The sound

Characteristics

Acoustic guitars
Regional percussion
Vocal harmony
Storytelling lyrics

How to listen

History

The word raíces means “roots” in Spanish, and that meaning sits at the center of the tag’s use in music. Across Latin America, folk and roots traditions have long mixed indigenous, African, and European influences, and later writers and artists used the idea of raíces to describe music that stays close to inherited repertories and regional identity. Because it functions more like a cultural description than a single genre with one origin point, raíces does not have a clean debut date. It appears instead as a way of grouping songs and artists that treat tradition as a living practice, from Chilean nueva canción lineages to Argentine and broader Latin American folklore traditions.

Notable artists