The story
National Chacarera Festival in Santiago del Estero
An open-air folk festival on the banks of the Rio Dulce dedicated entirely to chacarera, the folk dance and music genre of Santiago del Estero, founded in 1971 by the Carabajal brothers and still centered on the same amphitheater, craft fair and regional food stalls more than fifty years later.
Two brothers from a family synonymous with the genre founded Santiago del Estero's chacarera festival in 1971: Agustin and Carlos Carabajal set out specifically to reclaim and elevate chacarera, the province's signature folk dance and musical form, at a moment when other rhythms were crowding it out of the national folk scene.