Tuna Feminina de Biomédicas

Tuna is a centuries‑old Iberian student music tradition in which university ensembles, dressed in historic academic attire, perform serenades and lively street pieces with plucked strings and light percussion. Typical instrumentation centers on guitars, bandurrias and laúdes (Spanish lutes), with additional voices, hand percussion (pandereta/tambourine), and occasional regional stringed variants (e.g., Portuguese violas). Performances blend romantic serenades with upbeat waltzes, pasodobles, rumbas and regional folk songs, often delivered with theatrical charm, humor and close harmony. The ensemble is as much a social and ceremonial institution as it is a musical one: members (tunos/tunantes) preserve campus customs, travel to festivals and friendly competitions, and serenade communities, keeping a living link to medieval student life in Spain and Portugal that later spread across Latin America.