Nueva Canción (spanish for "new song") was a music movement in Latin America, first developed in Chile and then spread to all south and central America, It combined traditional folk music with a lot of the new music movements of the world, specially rock. The movement was characterized by social messages connected with left-wing philosophy and often progressive lyrics, still some bands focused in non-political songs (like los jaivas).

The first-wave died after the different right-wing coups in Latin America, musicians like Mercedes Sosa and Inti Illimani were exiled from their former countries, others tried to live illegally like los jaivas (for a short time), and others like Victor Jara were killed by the state. Still the movement survived in countries like Cuba and a second-wave started in Chile and Argentina at the end of the dictatorships mainly for the massive unrest of the population. The genre is still very popular in Latin America, the political lyrics are a message for the future generations and a warning for those who try to destroy the democracy.