This is a "joropo central", which has a slightly different structure than the better known "joropo llanero", the national music of Venezuela. The best thing about this video clip, taken from a local fiesta in San Sebastian de Los Reyes, an important cattle-ranching town in Aragua State, is it shows the music in context, at a dance, with people of all ages enjoying the festive atmosphere and joining in. The instruments provoking all this merriment are a pair of maracas played by the singer and a steel-stringed harp, known as an "arpa tuyera" or Tuy Valley harp. Give it a few minutes to warm up and check out the footstomping as the dancers start to get jiggy with it.
1 comment:
Russell, this is wonderful, thank you so much. How I envy every dancer there! I must make sure that in my next trip to Venezuela I fit a joropo tuyero evening in the agenda.
Post a Comment