Venezuela Bids Adios to A Much Loved Folk Legend

 

Venezuela's most famous and best loved folk musician Simon Diaz, known affectionately by his fans as Tio Simon (Uncle Simon), has died aged 85. The news of his death sparked a huge outpouring of support for his life and work on the social networking site Twitter from Venezuelans, folk music fans, and his fellow musicians. 

His daughter Betsimar Díaz made the announcement on 19 February, tweeting. “Tearfully I announce to the country that my beloved father passed away this morning, in peace”..He had been suffering for some years from Alzheimer's Disease.

Over a long career he wrote over 200 songs, but his most famous composition is "Caballo Viejo", which became a huge international hit for the Franco-Spanish group the Gipsy Kings after they renamed it "Bamboleo". 

From the 1970s to the 1990s he hosted a number of children's TV shows that promoted Venezuelan folk traditions, humour and songs, something which won him a special place in the hearts of those Venezuelans who grew up with him.

Born on the 8 August 1928 in Barbacoas and baptized Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez, he is famous for his renditions of folk songs known collectively as joropo or música criolla from the area known as Los Llanos, a vast swathe of seasonally-flooded cattle country that stretches from Venezuela into Colombia.

Considered a national treasure, over a career spanning more than 60 years he almost single-handedly rescued for future generations the traditional working songs of Los Llanos. His great achievement was to take these simple songs called tonadas and reinterpret them with spare arrangements that highlight the sometimes haunting vocals, and bring to life the daily chores of the cattle ranch. 

He was also known for his wicked sense of humour and made more than one tongue-in-cheek song about life on the Llanos, like "El Peine".

So influential has Simon Diaz been on Venezuelan folk music that tonadas like "Tonada de Luna Llena", "La Vaca Mariposa", and "Luna de Margarita"  have been recorded by a host of singers across Latin America and Spain, including Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Joan Manuel Serrat, Gilberto Santa Rosa and contemporary indie musicians like Devendra Banhart and Natalia Lafourcade. 

A 2007 album called simply "Simon: Remixes" brought together Venezuelan electronica groups like Babylon Motorhome, Masseratti 2 lts. Todosantos and Panasuyo interested in reinterpreting songs like "Mi Querencia", "La Tonada del Cabrestero" and "Arbolito Sabanero" for a new generation.

In 2008, Tio Simon was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammys after a campaign by a group called "Venezuelans in Hollywood", supported by actors such as "The Mummy" actress Patricia Velasquez, and musicians such as Oscar D'Leon, Los Amigos Invisibles, Ricardo Montaner, Jose Luis Rodriguez ("El Puma") and the Gipsy Kings.

Click here for a video of "Caballo Viejo"
Click here for a video of "Angustia" by Simon Diaz remixed by Babylon Motorhome
Click here for a video of "La Tonada del Cabrestero"
Click here for a video of "Alma Llanera" 

Venezuela's Hottest Party Band to Play London 7 Feb

LAI playing 'Mentiras' live in Buenos Aires

London is bracing for a Venezuelan invasion as the hottest Latin-party band in the universe, Los Amigos Invisibles, prepares to rock the UK capital to its ultra-funk foundations with a single live show at the Garage on Friday 7 February.

Tickets priced £25 are on sale through Latino Life but don't hang about as they're selling faster than hot buttered arepas.

To get a taste of the full Amigos experience, here's a video of the track 'Mentiras' from an LAI gig in Argentina in 2010 where the boys blew the place apart with a trawl through their back catalogue.

Summer sounds don't come any fresher, funkier or funnier than the band's upbeat Latin grooves and music lovers can expect the Venezuelan party boys to shine a ray of South American sunshine over a grey, wet London in Islington on Friday.

It should be a very special gig as the UK is like a musical Mecca for Los Amigos Invisbles. Growing up in the Caribbean, in a country awash with merengue and salsa, the boys swam against the tide and immersed themselves in US rare grooves and music from the British acid-jazz scene.

Playing pool parties for their pals, they quickly learnt how to blend the sounds of early Santana, the Fania Allstars and 70s disco with 80s electronica and house music to create sexed-up songs with irresistible sing-along choruses.

Few other bands have the ability to tease Latin-lover dance moves from an audience, and even the stiffest British wallflower will find it hard to stay still when the music starts.

It's been seven years since LAI played a gig in the UK but luckily for us their latest album "Repeat After Me", has been a big hit, prompting a massive tour to bring what the Invisible Friends call la gozadera (the party fun) to their full panas (best mates) in Europe.

The boys have certainly been busy of late, picking up a Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album for the CD "Comercial" and releasing a movie called "La Casa del Ritmo" to celebrate their 20 years of making great music.

Starting out as an indie-underground group playing acid-jazz-inspired funk and boogaloo for a Caracas in-crowd, the six members of Amigos Invisibles were catapulted to international stardom when ex-Talking Head Davis Byrne signed them to his Luaka Bop label in 1996 for the album "The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera".

Since then they have recorded tracks with Masters at Work and Dimitri from Paris, played in over 60 countries, produced seven quality albums, and gained a reputation as one of the best Latin music acts performing live today.

To keep up with all the latest from Los Amigos Invisibles follow them on Twitter: @AmgsInvisibles

Venue: The Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, N5 1RD
Time: Doors open at 22:30
Nearest Tube: Highbury & Islington
Tickets: On sale via Ticketmaster

Still Skanking - Desorden Publico "Los Dados de La Muerte"

Venezuela's top ska band Desorden Publico have been making music for more than 25 years and they just get better with each new album.

Their latest video for Los Dados de La Muerte, from the EP "Los Contrarios" shows a re-energized Desorden Publico in blistering form.

After the Colombian-influenced cumbia-ska of their last hit single Cristo Navaja, Los Dados de la Muerte is a return to the classic 80s ska of Madness and The Specials that first inspired them to start a band in 1985.

It features a cameo by Kanikazu Tanaka of Japanese ska band Dad Mom God.

Salsa star Oscar D'Leon invites fans to London show

Legendary salsa singer Oscar D'Leon will perform with his full big band at London's Roundhouse on 3 November 2012 for a one-off concert that no Latin music lover should miss. As he says in this special video message to fans ahead of the show... it should be Sabroso!!
For full details of the concert and how to get tickets click here.

Salsa king Oscar D'Leon comes to London 3 November

One of the truly great legends of salsa music, Oscar D'Leon, will be bringing his swinging big band and his even bigger personality to London's Roundhouse on 3 November for a one-off concert that no Latin music lover should miss.

Organized by London-based promoters Como No!, the show features Oscar D'Leon's full Venezuelan band and will start with sets from top salsa DJs, including Javier La Rosa (Cuba), Johnny G (Colombia), Jose Luis (Venezuela), Lubi (Gallo del Norte), Dr Jim (Londres del Norte) and Rich (Londres del Sur).

Known as El Rey Leon (the Lion King), El Diablo de la Salsa (the Salsa Devil), and El Sonero Mayor (The Greatest Singer of Son) Oscar D'Leon is not only an impressive singer with a huge voice and a matching stage presence, but also a brilliant double bass player and a twinkle-toed dancer (even now as he reaches 70).

He has been setting concert halls alight across the world with blistering dance numbers and smooth boleros since he first emerged as a star in Venezuela in the 1970s.

Born in the poor barrio of Antimano, in the south of the capital city Caracas, Oscar D'Leon drove a bus before fame called with his first band Dimension Latina. Back in those days he had a massive afro to complement his equally impressive moustache.

Starting off with the gritty urban power of the trombone-heavy salsa dura that had emerged from the Latino barrios of New York in the late 60s, he went on to develop a show that included big band numbers from the golden era of 1950s Cuba - when his idol Beny More and the Sonora Matancera ruled the radio and the Mambo kings played songs of love in New York.

Nowadays, to keep up with changing tastes, he continues to add contemporary Caribbean rhythms like rap and reggaetton into the salsa-son cubano mix and his band of percussion players and brass are so well rehearsed from constant gigs around the world they can move seamlessly between old styles and rhythms.

The result is that an Oscar D'Leon gig feels like one long dance party.

This is the perfect opportunity for anybody who takes a salsa class to hear this music played by the best musicians in the business. You can always stay and home and listen to the CDs, but performing live Oscar D'Leon can fill a concert hall in the coldest part of the world with all the warmth and joy of a South American fiesta.

You also get to check out the local Latinos busting moves they don't teach you in school.

But whether you sing along at the front or shuffle along at the back, the only thing certain at an Oscar D'Leon concert is that standing still is not an option - the rollercoaster of Caribbean rhythms unleashed by the Venezuelan salsa king rumbas along to an infectious clave beat that will leave you dancing your way home.

Date: Saturday, 3 November, 8:30 pm
Venue: London's Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, Camden, NW1 8EH
Tickets: £25
For tickets: Contact the Roundhouse or Como No! or Ticket Web

Lloraras y Lloraras - Venezuelan Karaoke Part 1

To prepare you for the concert here are the words to Oscar D'Leon's most famous song "Lloraras" ("You Will Cry") so you can sing along at the gig (although as you can see in the video above Oscar loves to improvise during the chorus). As you might gather from the title, there's quite a lot of crying involved, I've translated the words into English so you get the full effect of this popular break-up song.

Lloraras (in English)
I know that you don't want me to love you,
You're always avoiding me somehow.
If I look for you over here, you pop up over there.
The only thing I want, is that you won't make me suffer anymore.

You will be sorry about your bad behavior,
My suffering will cost you dear.
You will cry and cry with no-one to console you,
And then you'll realize that when someone cheats on you it hurts.

Later on you'll come to ask for forgiveness,
But my heart won't remember you any more.
You will cry and cry with no-one to console you,
And then you'll realize that when someone cheats on you it hurts.
I swear.

You will cry, You will cry, You will cry (You will cry)
Like I suffered (You will cry)
Listen, you will cry (You will cry)
And no-one will understand you (You will cry)
All the bad things (You will cry)
Listen, you will pay (You will cry)

You will cry, You will cry (You will cry)
You will cry, You will cry (You will cry)

You made me suffer (You will cry)
Now I'm the one who's laughing (You will cry)
No, no, yes, yes (You will cry)
Now I will live (You will cry)
My life as I wish (You will cry)
I'm moving on (You will cry)
You will cry.
Take it away!!

Lloraras (in Spanish)
Se que tu no quieres, que yo a ti te quiera
siempre tu me esquivas de alguna manera
si te busco por aqui tu me sales por alla
lo unico que yo quiero es que no me hagas sufrir mas

Por tu mal comportamiento, te vas a arrepentir
muy caro tendras que pagar todo mi sufrimiemto
Lloraras y lloraras sin nadie que te consuele
y asi te daras de cuenta que si te enga?an duele

Y despues vendras a mi, pidiendome perdon
pero ya mi corazon, no se acuerda mas de ti
Lloraras y lloraras sin nadie que te consuele
y asi te daras de cuenta que si te engañan duele
Te lo juro que si!

Lloraras lloraras lloraras (Lloraras)
Como lo sufri yo (Lloraras)
Oye tu lloraras (Lloraras)
Nadie te comprendera (Lloraras)
Todo lo malo que hiciste (Lloraras)
Oye mira lo pagaras (Lloraras)
Lloraras Lloraras (Lloraras)
Lloraras Lloraras (Lloraras)
Tu me hiciste sufrir (Lloraras)
Ahora el que rie soy yo (Lloraras)
que no, que no, que si, que si (Lloraras)
Ahora yo voy a vivir (Lloraras)
Mi vida como yo quiero (Lloraras)
Echa palante ya me voy (Lloraras)
Lloraras
Llevatela!!

Venezuelan bands on Starbucks CD - Cafe con Musica

By Russell Maddicks
If you like a little Latin flava with your mocha coconut frapuccino then look no further than coffee chain Starbucks who have just released "Cafe con Musica" - their first compilation of contemporary Latino sounds in collaboration with LA-based indie label Nacional Records.

Two of the 16 tracks are by Venezuelan groups: "Mentiras" by the funky boogaloo pop-rocksters known as Los Amigos Invisibles - one of the best Latin dance party bands working in the USA today - and "Arenita Playita" by the hip hop group Cuarto Poder. 

The blurb from Starbucks highlights how mainstream contemporary Latin music is nowadays and how important Nacional Records has become in the promotion of so many talented artists from Latin America, Spain and the USA: "This is a snapshot of the current Latin alternative scene featuring an international array of artists exploring a range of genres, from rock to electronica and beyond. Working with Nacional Records, the foremost source of exciting new sounds from Latin musicians, we offer an introduction to elite talent from a thriving musical movement."

The participating artists cover a wide range of styles from the loungetastic cha-cha-cha reworking of "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" by Señor Coconut, to the lyrical poetry of Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux on "1977" and the electro-tuba beats of Mexican DJ/electronica collective Nortec.

It's a shame they didn't include tracks by other Nacional Records' artists like Manu Chao and Plastilina Mosh, but there's still plenty of great artists to explore on this compilation.

So, what are you waiting for ese? With a Starbucks on nearly every corner of every major city in the States you should find no trouble picking up a copy. And with so many dance beats to shake your booty to on this album, it's a healthier option than the double fudge mini-donuts. 

The CD will be on sale at participating Starbucks outlets in the USA until 16 July.

Track List:

Diego Garcia - You Were Never There
Andrea Echeverri - A Eme O
Señor Coconut - Sweet Dreams

Sara Valenzuela - Para Continuar
The Pinker Tones - The Whistling Song
Polock - Fireworks
Pacha Massive - All Good Things
No Te Va Gustar - Chau
Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible - I Count the Ways
Los Amigos Invisibles - Mentiras
Ana Tijoux - 1977
Monareta - Llama
DJ Bitman - Shine
Mexican Institute of Sound - Mirando a las Muchachas
Aterciopelados - Rio
Cuarto Poder - Arenita Playita

To listen to sample clips and buy individual tracks click here:

Venezuelan orchestra brings classical music to Scotland

The Venezuelan classical music programme for disadvantaged and shantytown children known as El Sistema has produced world class conductors like Gustavo Dudamel and the talented young musicians of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra.
Now, Scotland has started its own version of El Sistema based around the Big Noise Orchestra in the deprived estate of Raploch in Stirling.
Ahead of the live outdoor concert in Stirling on 21 June that officially kicked off the London 2012 Olympic Festival, the 200-strong Simón Bolívar Orchestra and its leader Dudamel held a special orchestral masterclass with the Sistema Scotland kids that was captured in this exclusive video by the Guardian Newspaper (sorry about the ad but it's not too long).

Venezuelan bands on Starbucks CD - Cafe con Musica

By Russell Maddicks
If you like a little Latin flava with your mocha coconut frapuccino then look no further than coffee chain Starbucks who have just released "Cafe con Musica" - their first compilation of contemporary Latino sounds in collaboration with LA-based indie label Nacional Records.

Two of the 16 tracks are by Venezuelan groups: "Mentiras" by the funky boogaloo pop-rocksters known as Los Amigos Invisibles - one of the best Latin dance party bands working in the USA today - and "Arenita Playita" by the hip hop group Cuarto Poder. 

The blurb from Starbucks highlights how mainstream contemporary Latin music is nowadays and how important Nacional Records has become in the promotion of so many talented artists from Latin America, Spain and the USA: "This is a snapshot of the current Latin alternative scene featuring an international array of artists exploring a range of genres, from rock to electronica and beyond. Working with Nacional Records, the foremost source of exciting new sounds from Latin musicians, we offer an introduction to elite talent from a thriving musical movement."

The participating artists cover a wide range of styles from the loungetastic cha-cha-cha reworking of "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" by Señor Coconut, to the lyrical poetry of Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux on "1977" and the electro-tuba beats of Mexican DJ/electronica collective Nortec.

It's a shame they didn't include tracks by other Nacional Records' artists like Manu Chao and Plastilina Mosh, but there's still plenty of great artists to explore on this compilation.

So, what are you waiting for ese? With a Starbucks on nearly every corner of every major city in the States you should find no trouble picking up a copy. And with so many dance beats to shake your booty to on this album, it's a healthier option than the double fudge mini-donuts. 

The CD will be on sale at participating Starbucks outlets in the USA until 16 July.

Track List:

Diego Garcia - You Were Never There
Andrea Echeverri - A Eme O
Señor Coconut - Sweet Dreams

Sara Valenzuela - Para Continuar
The Pinker Tones - The Whistling Song
Polock - Fireworks
Pacha Massive - All Good Things
No Te Va Gustar - Chau
Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich + Fussible - I Count the Ways
Los Amigos Invisibles - Mentiras
Ana Tijoux - 1977
Monareta - Llama
DJ Bitman - Shine
Mexican Institute of Sound - Mirando a las Muchachas
Aterciopelados - Rio
Cuarto Poder - Arenita Playita

To listen to sample clips and buy individual tracks click here:

Smithsonian launches Venezuelan folk CD - Parranda!

By Russell Maddicks
Folk group La Sardina de Naiguatá will be bringing all the feelgood fun of a Venezuelan street party when they tour the USA in June and July with a series of free concerts in Washington, Houston, San Francisco and Chicago to promote their new album "Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music", which is being released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings today, 19 June 2012.
As the name suggests, the group comes from the town of Naiguatá - located on the long strip of Caribbean coast north of Caracas known as the Litoral Central.
The town is not the most picturesque spot on the coast - many people only stop here to stock up with alcohol from the many liquor stores before heading off to the popular seaside sands of Los Caracas or the more attractive and isolated beaches of Osma, Caruao and Chuspa - but for those in the know Naiguatá is famous for celebrating the largest number of street festivals in Venezuela.
The party people of Naiguatá have preserved the tradition of Diablos Danzantes (dancing devils) during the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi, hold parades in honour of Saint John the Baptist on June 23-24, and dance madly in masks and costumes during carnival.
But the festival that most clearly marks the town as special is the annual procession on Ash Wednesday known as El Entierro de la Sardina (The Burial of the Sardine).
Amid much mock solemnity a man dressed as a priest leads a motley assortment of men in drag known as viudas (widows) in a funeral cortege for a papier mache sardine that is ceremonially cast into the sea while the celebrants, including a horned devil, lament the end of carnival and the the start of Lent.
Fundamental to the procession is the music, a shuffling merengue beat that can be adapted to cover virtually any popular song of the day and which has evolved dramatically thanks to Ricardo Díaz - a local fisherman, trumpet player and founder of La Sardina de Naiguatá.
Realizing that he could add more oomph to the traditional procession music provided by cuatro (four-string guitar like a ukelele), charrasca (gourd or metal scraper) and Afro-Caribbean drums, Díaz added brass, electric bass, electric keyboard, and a choir of female singers.
The group now lead local revellers around the streets of the town from the back of a truck, giving a real carnival feel to the annual procession, which was brought to Venezuela by the Spanish and mirrors similar festivities still celebrated in the Spanish cities of Madrid and Murcia and on the Canary islands.
Over the years La Sardina de Naiguatá have built up a repertoire of songs that draw on local folk styles such as parranda and fulía that tap into the Spanish and African roots that gave birth to these hybrid musical forms that are as unique to Venezuela as vallenato is to Colombia or bachata to the Dominican Republic.
The Smithsonian was so keen to capture the authentic sound of the group that Folkways director Daniel Sheehy, the musical director Alexander Livinally, and sound engineer Peter Reinier travelled to Caracas to oversee the recording of the album, which was later remixed in the USA.
Folkways Recordings is the most important repository of World Music in the United States and was founded in 1948 by Moses Asch to document "people's music" from around the globe.
To coincide with the release of the CD, the Smithsonian has produced a mini-documentary about La Sardina de Naiguatá.
Parranda! Venezuelan Carnival Music
TRACK LIST
1. Abran la puerta [Open the Door] (calipso)
2. Parranda calle [Street Parranda] (parranda)
3. Volveré [I Will Return] (fulía) - Audio clip
4. Pájaro amarillo [Yellow Bird] (parranda)
5. Guayana es [It’s Guayana] (calipso)
6. Potpourrí “Alí Primera” [“Alí Primera” Medley]
7. Tambores de Naiguatá [Drums of Naiguatá]
8. El pilón [The Corn-Pounder] (parranda)
9. Flor de loto [Lotus Flower] (vals)
10. Potpourrí del gallo pinto [Spotted Rooster Medley] (fulía)
11. Río Manzanares [Manzanares River] (parranda)
12. Bandido [Bandit] (calipso) - Audio clip
13. Carmela (fulía)
14. Potpourrí “Sabor a navidad” [“Taste of Christmas” Medley]


To buy the album, download it from Amazon or listen to audio samples, click here.

For details of other releases on the Smithsonian Folkways music label click here.

US Tour dates and details: 
Free places are limited to some of these events so reserve early to avoid disappointment

29 June - Washington - Smithsonian Folklife Festival - Free - 6:30 pm
1 July Houston, Texas - Miller Outdoor Theatre - Free - 8 pm
5 July Washington -  Embassy of Venezuela - Free
8 July San Francisco - Yerbabuena Gardens Festival - Free -1-3 pm
11 July Chicago - Chicago School of Folk Music - Free - 8:30 pm
13 July Chicago - Chicago School of Folk Music - See link above

Cristo Navaja - Cumbia-Ska from Venezuela

Filmed in the picturesque mountain towns of Altos de Paramillo, Peribeca and El Topón around San Cristobal on the Venezuelan-Colombian border, Venezuelan ska band Desorden Publico's latest release is a whimsical confection of folk tradition and magical realism.

Models, folk dancers and men in Colombian hats with machetes make this the most colourful video the Desordenados have done for a long while and comes from their latest album Los Contrarios.

So what are you waiting for? Wave your machete in the air like you just don't care and sing!

Cristo Navaja


Caminaba por un mercado de esos muy improvisados
y en la mitad de la calle una vendedora ambulante
que tenia un ojo de vidrio me mostró un curioso artículo...
era un pequeño llavero con forma de crucificado Cristo


Fue así como compré esa potente cruz de metal
que tenía escrita la inscripción made in Taiwan
resulta ser que esa cruz dentro de sí oculta una navaja
que como una pico 'e loro - fuiss
despliega punzante el arma


Cristo navaja, Cristo Navaja
defiende mi billetera mientras da cobijo a mi alma


Cristo navaja, Cristo Navaja
defiende mi billetera mientras da cobijo a mi alma


Vamos to' el mundo!
Cristo Navaja, Cristo Navaja
Chumba la candela, maquinolandera
Dale cobijo a mi alma!

Venezuela ska band Desorden Publico launch new CD

By Russell Maddicks


Venezuelan ska veterans Desorden Publico are marking 25 years in the music business with their long-awaited new album called Los Contrarios.

The new CD sees the Caracas-based nutty boys return with the kind of irreverent black humour, social comment, and high energy that made them so popular in the late 1980s, when they were inspired by British ska bands like The Specials, Madness and The Selector.

Melding ska, salsa and cumbia rhythms into joyous dance numbers, Desorden Publico have long mastered the art of getting huge stadium crowds across the world to stand up and skank, earning them the title the Latin Kings of Ska.

The new album promises more of the same with tracks like "Musica de Fiesta" throwing Balkan gypsy stomping into the ska mix, and "Llora por un Dolar" providing a lilting reggae beat to accompany a sarcastic sing-a-long vocal.

There are two covers on the album, a version of Venezuelan folk singer Ali Primera's "Dispersos" and "City of the Dead" by punk legends The Clash, another key influence on Desorden's sound and attitude.

Listen out for a very special guest appearance by Ruben Albarran from the Mexican rock band Cafe Tacuba on the track "El Poder Emborracha".

"Cristo Navaja", the first single from the album will be formally launched on 8 June in the Venezuela-Colombia border city of San Cristobal de Tachira, where the video for the cumbia-ska track was shot.

To see a video of Desorden Publico performing "Monkey Ska" on a double decker bus in London click here.

To see a video of Desorden Publico rehearsing new tracks with BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby click here.

To see a video of Desorden Publico rehearsing tracks from the new CD click here.

Choroni - Sr. Mendez ft Palenke Soultribe

By Russell Maddicks

Here's a summery tune about the Venezuelan beach town of Choroni by Grammy-Award winning songwriter and producer Aureliano Mendez, who records and performs under the monickers Panasuyo and Sr. Mendez.

Aureliano's exciting mix of traditional Venezuelan folk music, dance, electronica, drum n bass and ragga brought him chart success in Venezuela with his first album "Monte y Culebra" (Scrubland and Snakes"), which included tracks like "Tierra Querida".

Born in Guanare, Portuguesa State, where the influence of Llanero music is strong, he incorporates traditional instruments such as cuatro (four-string guitar) and maracas into tracks made up of live performances, loops and samples.

In 2006 he contributed to a landmark album of remixes of famous tracks by Venezuelan folk legend Simon Diaz.

His biggest triumph so far was winning two Latin Grammys in 2007. One for producing the album "Residente o Visitante" for the Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13 and another for penning "Pa'l Norte" - the hit song from that album (he also sang on the track "Tango del Pecado" performed with Gustavo Santoalalla and Bajofondo).
In 2008, "Residente o Visitante" won the Grammy for best Latin Urban Album.

"Choroni" is a collaboration with the Colombian group Palenke Soultribe and comes from Aureliano's excellent second album "Papa del Panasuyo". The video was produced by Venezuelan director Otto Scheuren.

To listen to audio clips from Papa del Panasuyo visit the Soundcloud page for Sr. Mendez.

Afro-America Project - Venezuela comes to London

UPDATE: Tonight 10 May at 7:30 p.m. - Free Concert by Wilmer Sifontes & his Afro-American Project at the Venezuelan Cultural Centre in Bolivar Hall - 54-56 Grafton Way London, W1T 5DL

There was a time in the UK when it was impossible to find Venezuelan folk music, either live or on CD, and you had to rely on friends to burn off some tracks for you or travel to Venezuela to hear it for yourself somewhere warm and exotic like Choroni.

Thankfully, those days are over with the arrival on the scene of an exciting new band led by the Venezuelan master percussionist Wilmer Sifontes.

Called the "Afro-American Project", the group is made up of professional musicians and talented newcomers who are determined to bring the full-on experience of a Venezuelan folk fiesta to the people of the UK.

The clip shows Wilmer and his group playing a medley of Afro-Venezuelan songs, including calypsos from the southern gold-mining town of El Callao, and the kind of tambores from the coast that you can hear in Choroni on a typical Friday night.

If you want to know how true tambores is danced in these small fishing villages watch the girl with the curls swinging her hips at the end of the video.

Wilmer is already well-known on the Latin-London music scene as the percussionist for Conjunto Sabroso and the The Charlys Orchestra.

But now he is determined to spread the news about Venezuelan music to a wider audience and sees the Afro-American Project as a way to get more musicians interested in learning and performing Venezuela's rich legacy of African and Afro-Caribbean roots music.

For more information about the band or to book them for a Venezuelan, South American, or Caribbean themed event contact Wilmer Sifontes

SXSW music fest moves to Patafunk's Venezuelan groove

Venezuelan DJ, producer, singer and musician Patafunk has returned to the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas, with a banging new dance track with Slimmy Neutron called "I Want To See You Again, Yo Quiero Verte Otra Vez" featuring SkipRage.

In 2010 Patafunk rocked the SXSW with a laid-back Summery groove "Bailando".

Venezuelan conductor "stupendous" on Sesame St

Grammy-winning Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel is now so famous in the USA he was invited to appear on the popular kids' show Sesame Street, alongside series-veteran Elmo, a sheep playing the violin, an octopus playing percussion and an all penguin choir.

His appearance on the show was "very, very great and amazing", but what else could you expect from a classical music conductor who gets rock star treatment wherever he goes and whose fans call him the "Dude".

Dudamel is so popular in Los Angeles, where he leads the LA Philharmonic, that there's even a hot dog named after him.

The 31-year-old conductor cemented his position as one of the hottest talents in classical music on 12 February when he won his first Grammy Award for the recording of Brahms Symphony No. 4 he did with the LA Philharmonic for the Deutsche Grammophon label.

The mop-haired super-conductor currently criss-crosses the globe, juggling a string of high-profile commitments as the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Sweden, the musical director of the LA Philharmonic, and the artistic director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar in Venezuela.

Gustavo Dudamel and OSB join Calle 13 at Latin Grammys

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra joined Puerto Rican rappers Calle 13 on stage to open the show at the Latin Grammy's on 10 November with a rousing rendition of Calle 13's "Latinoamerica".

Dudamel wore a sash in the red, yellow and blue colours of the Venezuelan flag during the performance at the Mandalay Bay Hotel theater in Las Vegas.

Venezolanía - Official song and video for FitVen 2011

Venezolanía, performed by Merida singer-songwriting sisters Ariana and Manuela Moreno, is the official song for Venezuela's annual tourism fair, FitVen 2011, which takes place on the tourist island of Margarita at the Venetur Hotel in Porlamar from 22-25 October.

Ariana and Manuela's group is called Surconciente.

This is the IV edition of Venezuela's annual FitVen tourism fair, which aims to promote local attractions such as Los Llanos, a birdwatching mecca, the Andean mountains and valleys of Merida, Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, Roraima, a Lost World tabletop mountain, and Margarita, which has a growing reputation as a world class windsurfing destination.

This year, Venezuela's neighbour Colombia is being honoured with a special stand.

For the official FitVen2011 website click here.

Venezuelan ska band Desorden Publico star in BBC documentary

Veteran BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby joins Desorden Publico - a ska band that has been at the top of the charts in Venezuela for over a quarter of a century - as part of his documentary series "South American Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby", which airs on BBC 2 at 8 p.m. on 25 September.

Playing to audiences of up to 150,000 people, Desorden Publico are not mere entertainers but have a profound political purpose invariably challenging the status quo.

As Jonathan stomps his feet to their energetic beat, Horacio Blanco, the lead singer is worried. He tells Jonathan that Chavez's 21st century Socialist revolution has polarised the country.

A video of Desorden Publico in London playing the song Monkey Ska

The veteran BBC presenter also visited Hato Masaguaral, a ranch in the plains of Los LLanos Venezuela, that breeds an endangered species of crocodile commonly know as the Caiman del Orinoco. Video here.

The full documentary of Jonathon Dimbleby's documentary on Colombia and Venezuela is being shown on BBC 2 at 8 p.m. on 25 September and will be available on the iPlayer for a week after broadcast.

Simon Diaz - Tonada del Cabrestero

UPDATE - 19/02/2014: Venezuela Bids Adios to a Much Loved Folk Legend

Venezuela's most famous folk singer and composer, Simon Diaz, celebrated his 83rd birthday on 8 August with a huge outpouring of support for his life and work on the social networking site Twitter from Venezuelans all over the world.

A national treasure, Simon Narciso Diaz Marquez was born in Barbacoas, Guarico, in 1928 and over a career spanning more than 60 years has singlehandedly rescued for future generations the traditional working songs of the vast seasonally-flooded cattle country known as Los Llanos.

Tio Simon (Uncle Simon), as he is known to his fans, took these simple songs called tonadas  and reinterpreted them with spare arrangements that highlighted the vocal, bringing to life the daily chores of the cattle ranch.

So influential has Simon Diaz been on Venezuelan folk music that his tonadas have been recorded by a host of singers across Latin America and Spain, including Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Joan Manuel Serrat, and Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Tonada del Cabrestero
Camino del llano viene, Puntero en la soledad (repeat)
El cabestrero cantando, ay Su copla en la madrugá (repeat)

Ahó... a... a...
El toro pita la vaca
Y el novillo se retira
Como el novillo era toro
La vaca siempre lo mira
Mariposa, nube de agua

La luna busca la sombra, y no la puede encontrar(repeat)
Porque la sombra se esconde, Aaaa Detrás de la madrugá(repeat)

Ahó... a... a...
No llores más nube de agua
Silencia tanta amargura
Que toda leche da queso
Y toda pena se cura
Lucerito nube de agua

Ya viene la mañanita
Cayendo sobre el palmar
Y el cabestrero prosigue
Con su doliente cantar

Ahó... a... a...
Mañana cuando me vaya
Quien se acordará de mi
Solamente la tinaja
Por el agua que bebí
Lucerito nube de agua

Video of an early song by Simon Diaz from 1965 - El Peine

Video of a modern reworking by Babylon Motorhome of a Simon Diaz classic - Angustia

Dudamel and SBSO play Mahler at 2011 Proms

Such is the fame of the Venezuelan classical music conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra that when tickets went on sale in May for their 5 August appearance at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall they sold out in three hours.
After setting the Proms alight four years ago with an impassioned performance of Venezuela's unofficial anthem Alma Llanera the orchestra showed a subtler side to their talents this time by taking on Mahler's Second Symphony, "Resurrection".
But the audience reaction to the orchestra's Mahler was equally ecstatic with a 15-minute standing ovation for the Venezuelan musicians.
"The capacity crowd, I should say, cheered and cheered and didn’t want the Venezuelans to leave.  Who knows, maybe they’re still there, dancing the mambo; I had to retreat to write this review," noted Geoff Brown of the Arts Desk, an online reviews website. 
Peter Reed of the Classical Music website was equally rapturous in his review: "With an orchestra of 170 (plus the 12-strong off-stage band), the quality of the playing – its freshness, maturity, clarity, attack and responsiveness – was thrilling, with any number of solos to make you go weak at the knees in admiration for the way these musicians were so inside Mahler’s soundworld, with playing so soft as to become almost a figment of aural imagination, and with the sell-out audience so quiet that a pin, let alone a mobile phone chirrup (save in the second movement), would have sounded like an explosion."
Writing in the Guardian newspaper, music critic Guy Dammann highlighted Dudamel's continuing influence on the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and the special relationship between the two:
"At the centre of this whirlwind, of course, was Dudamel, whose talents grew with this orchestra, were honed by the Gothenburg Symphony, and are being tested by the LA Phil. But his relationship with the Bolivars is special. Conducting from memory and less concerned with pushing boundaries in interpretation than with simply getting the best out of his players, he inhabits both score and orchestra, offering a seamless conduit between the two."