!Aquiii, Cosquiiin!(FESTIVALS)

• Author: Jones, Dennis

With this cry , a multitude of voices from around the world will launch Latin America's most important celebration of folk music and culture, in January the scream will be louder and more heartfelt than ever. The small, picturesque city of Cosquín, nestled in the mountains of the northern province of Córdoba, has been home to Argentina's National Folklore Festival, which in 2010 will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The citizens of Cosquín, the event officials, and not least, the participating musicians, dancers, artists, and craftsmen are determined that this year's festival will shine brighter than ever.

Since 1961, performers and craftsmen, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of fans, have gathered every third week of January for a celebration of Argentine traditional music and culture. The Cosquín National Folklore Festival draws Argentina's most illustrious performers for Las nueve lunas de Cosquín , the nine nights of Cosquín.

With seating for almost 12,000 people, the main amphitheater in the Plaza Próspero Molina is one of Latin America's largest venues. Though the theater is for the headliners, the festivities spill beyond its gates. Talent overflows into the streets as impromptu concerts and dancing inundate the town. Street musicians and performers come from across the land, augmenting the celebration, and hundreds of craftspeople peddle their exceptional wares in courtyards, markets, and tented sites across town.

In the early days of the twentieth century, the mild microclimate was found to be highly beneficial for those suffering from tuberculosis and other pulmonary ailments. An industry of hospitals, spas, and recovery facilities sprang up to serve patients from Argentina and other Latin American countries. With the advent of antibiotics and anti-tubercular medicines, the advantages of Cosquín's climate faded along with the medical facilities and the city's primary source of income.

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The beauty of the Valle de Punilla continued to draw tourists but it was not until 1961, when the festival was founded, that Cosquín began to recover its former popularity. A presidential decree in 1963 established the third week in January as the National Week of Folklore. Now, during the nine nights of the national festival, upwards of 700,000 devoted fans gather from around Latin America and the world to celebrate one of the largest folk festivals on the planet.

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In venues across the city, the...