Venezuela is located in northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, Colombia, Brazil, and Guyana.
Venezuelan Music
Los Llanos Orientales are massive plains that extend from Colombia into Venezuela. The mestizo communities that inhabit these savannas on the great Orinoco River are descendants of Spanish settlers, African slaves and indigenous Indians.
This is cattle raising country, where life revolves around country ranches. Music accompanies the daily working duties such as milking and cattle drives. Most remarkable is the festive dance music called joropo, an intensely virtuoso display of rippling melodies played on harp, bandola and cuatro accompanied by bass, cajon and maracas. This rapid and festive music is sung with high-pitched voices evocative of Andalusian Gitano (gypsy) roots.
Venezuelan Musical Genres
El Polo – A popular Venezuelan genre where singers improvise and sing verses from well known traditional songs. Accompanied by bandolina, guitar, cuatro, charrasca, maracas and furruco.
Joropo – read the article The Joropo of the Colombian and Venezuelan Plains
Other genres include gaita, parranda, calipso, golpe larense, joropo oriental, tonada, malagueña, margariteña, vals, bambuco.
Venezuelan Musicians
Venezuelan Compilations
The Rough Guide to the Music of Venezuela (World Music Network, 2003)
Venezuelan Music Books
La Música Afro-Venezolana by Ramón y Rivera, Luis Felipe. Caracas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Imprenta Universitaria, 1971.
