Payada

The payada is a folk music tradition native to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, and south Paraguay as part of the Gaucho culture and Gaucho literature. In Chile it is called paya and performed by huasos. It is a performance of improvised ten-line verse called décimas usually accompanied by guitar. The performer is called a "payador", albeit any guitar performer in the region is called by the same name. In performances of two or more payadores (the "payada"), known as contrapunto, they will compete to produce the most eloquent verse, each answering questions posed by the other, often insulting. The durations of these verse duels can be exceedingly long, often many hours, and they end when one payador fails to respond immediately to his opponent. Musical styles often used in the payada are the cifra, the huella and the milonga.