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38 albums · 1968–2025

Music of Nicaragua, from the marimba and Camilo Zapata to the Mejía Godoy brothers, Luis Enrique and today

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

A marimba de arco player's hands and mallets at the baile de negras in Masaya
Carlos Mejía Godoy singing with his accordion, arms spread wide, on stageHernaldo Zúñiga with a string section on the stage of the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío
A marimba de arco at the baile de negras in Masaya, 2017. Photo: Mynor 2009, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Carlos Mejía Godoy on stage in Managua in 2006, at the tenth anniversary of the Fundación Mejía Godoy. Photo: jorgemejia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Hernaldo Zúñiga at the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío in Managua, 2009. Photo: Héctor Acosta, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Nicaragua's popular music has the son nica of Camilo Zapata and Tino López Guerra with the marimba de arco of Masaya behind it, the brothers Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy who carried it into the nueva canción of the seventies, Duo Guardabarranco, Katia Cardenal and Norma Helena Gadea after them, the palo de mayo of Bluefields in Dimensión Costeña, Luis Enrique's salsa and Hernaldo Zúñiga's ballads for the world, Perrozompopo, Clara Grun and Ceshia Ubau among the singers of today, and the rock of Managua from División Urbana to La Cuneta Son Machín, Milly Majuc and Malos Hábitos. The list has 38 records from 1968 to 2025, one or two by each name and only a small part of what they made; the song of the Caribbean coast beyond a nod, the church music and the songs of the Purísima, the Orquesta Nacional and the classical tradition, the hip hop of Managua, and the many records that never reached streaming, the old marimba sides of Masaya among them, are left for other lists. About 27 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

By genre

Latin 19%Rock 13%Folk & Country 12%Other 56%
  • Latin 19%
  • Rock 13%
  • Folk & Country 12%
  • Other 56%

The genres named most: nicaraguan, folk, rock, nueva canción, pop, son nica.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Nicaragua 38. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.