Qualla: Cosquín Festival

Cosquín Festival: Introduction

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jofrigerio, CC BY-SA 4.0. They call them moons, not nights. For nine of them every January, the small town of Cosquín in the foothills of the Córdoba sierras swells with musicians and pilgrims of folk music, and the locals invoke an old phrase: las nueve lunas de Cosquín, the nine moons of Cosquín. By day it is a quiet town in the scenic Punilla Valley. For those nine summer moons it becomes the most important stage in Argentine folklore, and one of the great folk gatherings of Latin America - a transformation that began with a simple idea to draw a few tourists.

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Image: Jofrigerio | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cosquín Festival: Nine Moons from a Modest Idea

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pajarosdelsur, CC BY-SA 4.0. The first festival ran from January 21 to 29, 1961. A handful of Cosquín residents, led by two local doctors, Reinaldo Wisner and Alejandro Guinder, wanted to put on a folklore show during the summer holidays to bring visitors to town. The response overwhelmed them. Musicians arr...

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Image: Pajarosdelsur | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cosquín Festival: The Voice They Tried to Silence

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jofrigerio, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1965, one of the most important moments in Argentine music happened almost in secret. Mercedes Sosa, then in her twenties, was on a list of artists barred from the official program for her open political sympathies. The organizers would not let her perform. So the beloved folk...

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Image: Jofrigerio | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cosquín Festival: The Saint of the Stage

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. If Sosa is the festival's conscience, the guitarist and poet Atahualpa Yupanqui is its patron. He won the festival's first prize in 1967, and in 1972 the newly completed main stage was named in his honor; it stands today on Próspero Molina Square. Cosquín became the launching pla...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Cosquín Festival: A Town the World Came To

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Monero de corazon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cosquín's reach long ago outgrew its valley. The Organization of American States became a sponsor, recognizing the festival's place in the culture of the Americas, and Paris's Musée de l'Homme recorded its performances. Stuttgart named a stage "Cosquín"; since 1975 the Japanese t...

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Image: Monero de corazon | CC BY-SA 4.0