Candombe drums in Montevideo: Spanish A1 reading
An A1 Spanish text about candombe in Montevideo: the chico, repique and piano drums, the street fire that warms the hide, and the Desfile de Llamadas, with me gusta, te gusta, nos gusta and le encantan in context.
A mi tío le gustan los tambores de Montevideo
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A narrator from Montevideo describes how the three candombe drums sound and what the people around him like.
En el candombe hay tres tambores diferentes. El más pequeño es el chico. El mediano es el repique. El más grande es el piano. Cada tambor tiene una voz distinta.
A mi tío le gusta el tambor chico. El chico suena agudo y marca un ritmo rápido. A su amigo Pablo le gusta el piano: es el tambor grande y su sonido es grave. El repique suena en el medio y hace variaciones.
A mí me gustan los tres tambores juntos. Un tambor solo marca un ritmo. Tres tambores hacen una conversación.
Los tambores son de madera y llevan un cuero encima. Antes de tocar, los músicos calientan el cuero en una fogata en la vereda. Con el calor, el tambor suena mejor.
Muchos tamborileros tocan juntos y caminan por la calle. Ese grupo es una cuerda de tambores. En mi familia nos gusta seguir la cuerda por el barrio.
En febrero hay un desfile grande en Montevideo, el Desfile de Llamadas. Pasa por el Barrio Sur y por Palermo, dos barrios con mucha historia de candombe. A mi abuela le encantan las Llamadas.
El candombe tiene raíces africanas y más de doscientos años de historia en Montevideo. Hoy la Unesco reconoce el candombe como patrimonio cultural inmaterial de la humanidad.
¿Te gusta la música con tambores? ¿Te gustan más los sonidos graves o los sonidos agudos? ¿Qué instrumento te gusta escuchar en casa?
About this article
What you'll learn
Gustar and encantar with a + person: me/te/le/nos gusta, gusta versus gustan, gustar + infinitive; sound and candombe vocabulary: grave, agudo, cuero, fogata, vereda.
A narrator from Montevideo describes how the three candombe drums sound and what the people around him like.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
Antes de tocar
newbefore playing
In the text it is the moment before the music starts: the drummers heat the hide first and play afterwards.
After antes de, Spanish uses the infinitive where English uses the -ing form: antes de tocar, antes de cenar, antes de salir.
marca un ritmo rápido
newkeeps a fast beat
This is what the smallest drum, the chico, does in the text: it holds the fast, steady beat.
Marcar el ritmo is a common Spanish collocation for keeping the beat, in music and in dance.
una cuerda de tambores
newa group of candombe drums
In candombe this is the name for the group of drummers who walk and play together.
Cuerda usually means rope or string; in candombe it names the drum group, so the context decides the meaning.
tiene raíces africanas
newhas African roots
This is how the text states where candombe comes from.
Tener raíces is a compact way to talk about origins: tiene raíces africanas, tiene raíces italianas.
hay tres tambores diferentes
newthere are three different drums
Hay introduces what exists: candombe has three drums.
Hay has one form for singular and plural: hay un tambor, hay tres tambores.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
El cuero
cuero
hide, leather
The skin stretched over the wooden body of the drum.
Cuero is leather or hide as a material: un cinturón de cuero, zapatos de cuero.
La fogata
una fogata
bonfire, open fire
The small street fire the drummers use to warm the drum hide.
Fogata is a fire made outdoors: una fogata en la playa, una fogata en el campo.
Grave (sonido)
grave
low-pitched
About sound, grave means low: that is how the big drum, the piano, sounds.
Careful: grave also means serious (un problema grave), so the context tells you which meaning it has.
Agudo (sonido)
agudo
high-pitched
About sound, agudo means high: that is how the smallest drum, the chico, sounds.
When you talk about sound, agudo is the opposite of grave: un sonido agudo, un sonido grave.
La vereda
la vereda
sidewalk, pavement (Uruguay, Argentina and much of South America)
In the text it is the pavement beside the street where the fire burns.
Uruguay, Argentina and much of South America say la vereda, Spain says la acera, and Mexico says la banqueta.
Suena
suena
it sounds
The él/ella form of sonar (to sound): el tambor suena mejor.
In the present, sonar changes o to ue in the stem: sueno, suenas, suena, but nosotros sonamos.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
Le gusta el tambor chico
le gusta el tambor chico
he likes the chico drum
When you name the person who likes something, you use a + person (a mi tío), and the pronoun le stays as well. The verb agrees with the thing liked, and el tambor chico is singular, so it is gusta.
This is the shape of the whole gustar pattern: not "he likes the drum" but "the drum is pleasing to him".
Me gustan los tres tambores
me gustan los tres tambores
I like all three drums
Several things are liked here (los tres tambores), so the verb is plural: gustan. The extra a mí does not change who likes what; it puts the focus on the speaker.
The choice between gusta and gustan depends on how many things are liked, never on who likes them.
Nos gusta seguir la cuerda
nos gusta seguir la cuerda
we like following the drum group
The pronoun nos shows that several people like it, but the verb stays singular: gusta. What is liked is the action seguir, and an infinitive counts as one single thing.
This is a common slip with gustar: with an infinitive the verb normally stays gusta, however many people are involved.
Le encantan las Llamadas
le encantan las Llamadas
she loves the Llamadas parade
Encantar is built exactly like gustar: a mi abuela, the pronoun le, and the plural verb encantan because las Llamadas is plural. Encantar already means "to like a lot", so mucho is normally not added to it.
One verb, encantar, says what gustar mucho says, and it is very common in everyday speech.
Te gustan más los sonidos graves
Te gustan más los sonidos graves
do you prefer low sounds
The pronoun te addresses the person you are speaking to. The verb is plural, gustan, because los sonidos graves is plural. The word más after the verb marks a comparison; here the question offers two options to choose between.
This is a ready-made way to ask about someone's taste: gustar + más works as "to prefer".
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