Sierras of Cordoba Events

The sierras hold two of Argentina’s largest festivals, and both are in small towns that are entirely overwhelmed by them.

Festival Nacional de Folklore — late January, Cosquin

Nine nights on the Atahualpa Yupanqui stage in an open-air amphitheatre, held every January since 1961, and the most important folk music festival in Argentina. Performers come from every province, the programme runs from traditional zamba and chacarera through to contemporary folk, and malambo dancers compete in a form of percussive solo footwork that is judged with great seriousness. The festival made careers: Mercedes Sosa sang there in 1965 after other musicians pushed her onto the stage when the organisers would not book her, and it changed Argentine music. The town swells many times over, the streets fill with informal peñas where musicians play until dawn, and the atmosphere outside the amphitheatre is as much the point as the programme. Cosquin Rock follows in February and is now one of the largest rock festivals in South America.

Oktoberfest — October, Villa General Belgrano

The Fiesta Nacional de la Cerveza, held since 1963 in a village founded by German and Swiss settlers, and the largest beer festival in South America. Brass bands, dirndls, sausage and a great deal of beer, in a town that looks like it was moved from Bavaria.

Fiesta Nacional del Malambo — January, Laborde

In a small town on the Córdoba plain, the national malambo championship is one of the most demanding contests in any folk tradition. Dancers perform solo percussive footwork for up to five minutes at a pace that exhausts them, and the winner takes a title that carries an unusual condition: having won, they may never compete again anywhere. Preparation takes years, and the standard is astonishing.

Through the year

Alta Gracia’s Jesuit estancia holds a chamber music festival, and the hill towns run a continuous calendar of small fiestas through the summer.