Joropo: Leonard Jacome - Tocando Arpa

Sometimes the sheer skill of a performer can blow you away. That's how I felt after watching the young Venezuelan harpist Leonard Jacome playing with Reynaldo Armas at the Teresa Carreno theatre in Caracas.

If you know anything more about this amazing young harpist please leave a comment.

Musica Llanera: How to dance Joropo

If you ever wondered how people in the Llanos dance a traditional joropo then here is your answer.

The word "joropo" originally meant "a party" but has come to mean both the traditional music of harp, maracas and cuatro played in the vast prairies of Venezuela and Colombia known as Los Llanos and also the dance - a kind of waltz that works up to a series of faster and faster twists of the woman and a cockroach-stomping display by the man that echoes the frisky footwork of a young colt or a fighting cock.

These dances still take place in Los Llanos at town fairs, village fetes and house parties and are very much a part of Llanos life.

Sadly, I have no information on who the dancers are or where the event took place but it's a great video, despite the unnecessary camera tricks.

Expresion Larense: Golpe Tocuyano

A song in honour of Barquisimeto and El Tocuyo by local group Expresion Larense.

The only expression I know from Lara is "na' guará!", a useful expression that defines the region but defies direct translation.

It can be used in a similar way to Paris Hilton's use of the phrase "Oh my God!", which depending on the context can mean: "Oh my God, that's great" or "Oh my God, that sucks!"

Or it can be used like the phrase "no way!" or "wow!" to indicate disbelief or surprise.

"Na´guará" is so prevalent in Barquisimeto and Lara State that the inhabitants of the region are known as Guaros.

If anybody has a better definition of the indefinable "Na'guará" please leave a comment.

Simon Diaz honoured at Latin Grammy Awards

Venezuela's best-loved folk singer Simon Diaz is finally being recognized by the Latin Grammy organizers for his contribution to Latin music.

The composer of "Caballo Viejo" - a massive international hit for the Gipsy Kings as "Bamboleo" - will pick up a Lifetime Achievement Award at a special ceremony on 12 November, the day before the Ninth Latin Grammy show at the Hobby Centre in Houston, Texas.

The award represents a major milestone in the long and illustrious career of Diaz, who celebrated his 80th birthday on 8 August this year.

The announcement on 30 September came after a campaign to "bring Simon Diaz to the 2009 Grammy" 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 Gypsy Kings.

A Facebook group supporting the campaign currently has 51,000 members.

Also collecting awards will be New York salsa legend Larry Harlow, from the Fania Allstars, and the Cuban composer and guitarist Juanito Marquez.

Click here for a video of "Caballo Viejo"

Click here for a video of "Angustia" by Simon Diaz remixed by Babylon Motorhome

CD Review: Arpa Venezuela - Rafael Ochoa

Reissued gem by an unsung master of the harp

Arpa Venezuela (Airmail Music/Sunset-France)

Rafael Ochoa, 67, is a maestro of the Venezuelan harp who had his heyday in the 60s and 70s. For years he was part of the orchestra of the legendary harpist and composer Juan Vicente Torrealba, who took the rough and ready joropo music of the Llanos, or plains, and polished it to orchestral standards.

In these studio recordings from the 1970s, Ochoa tackles elegant waltzes and contradanzas harking back to the music’s roots in the Spanish fandango and the more spirited golpes, with their bug-stomping dances that echo the energy of flamenco.

The 11 instrumental tracks highlight the versatility of the Venezuelan harp in the hands of a maestro. Stand out numbers are "El Pajarillo", which takes off at gallop and barely pauses for breath, and the bolero-like "La Reina", where Ochoa is joined by blind pianist Rafael Aponte.

Other tracks feature the golpe tocuyano from the northwest, old-style merengue and Afro-Venezuelan cumaco drums from the coast.

But the real treat is being able to get your hands on this music in the first place. To find the original LP in Venezuela you'd have to dig through the crates in specialist second-hand stores for months. But now, due to some odd international recording deal, which included signing over a load of out-of-stock LPs to a French CD company, it can be yours for a few euros.

The big question that's bugging me is why Venezuelan folk music is so impossible to find in the UK or the USA, or Australia, or anywhere else for that matter?

Joropo is a hugely popular folk music. It's played right across Venezuela and the cattle-ranching plains of eastern Colombia. It is enjoyed both by barefoot cowboys in the countryside and concert-hall crowds in the cities and is ubiquitous on local radio and in barbecued-beef restaurants. But you'd never know it judging by the Venezuelan music you find outside of the country.

Salsa, merengue, reggaeton, hip-hop, rock en Español, all find an international audience, but joropo, the king of Venezuelan folk music, seems to be a step too far for most foreigners.

Perhaps all that will change with some of the great remixes being created by younger talents like Panasuyo and Babylon Motorhome. But until it does, the joyous sound of the 32-stringed harp, accompanied by shuffling maracas and a small four-stringed guitar known as a cuatro will be something tourists will have to travel to the country to experience for themselves.

Or they could pick up a cheap reissue of an old gem like Arpa Venezuela.

Ochoa was absolutely blown away when I tracked him down near Barquisimeto and called to say that this album was available on CD in Europe. He said he was pleased people were still listening to his music, although he could only vaguely remember cutting the tracks at several different studio sessions in the early 1970s in Caracas. He said he had never seen Rafael Aponte again after those sessions.

This is a great place to start for anybody hankering after joropo who likes their harp music on the smoother side.

If you live in London and you want to try before you buy, I suggest you visit Sterns Music at the top of Tottenham Court Rd, near Warren St tube.

Track Listing
1 El Pajarillo
2 Fuiste Tu
3 Dama Antanona
4 Seis Numerao
5 Nuestro Mundo
6 La Reina/El Pajarillo
7 Puerto Abandonado/Golpe Tocuyano
8 Como Llora Una Estrella/El Cumaco
9 Sombra En Los Medanos/Compadre Pancho
10 Canto A Caracas/El Norte Es Una Quimera
11 Llanera

By Russell Maddicks

To buy the CD click here: Venezuela Arpa

Musica Llanera: Fabiana Ochoa - La Vecina

Fabiana Ochoa tells the neighbour to stop bugging her hombre in this joropo, in which she says she is prepared to take on a river in flood or a very vicious viper rather than lose her man. Sounds like she means business.

La Vecina

Oiga vecina mejor no venga mas se lo digo por las buenas
Aqui a mi casa no se viene a coquetear, mejor se va y evitamos un problema
Verdad vecina mejor no venga mas o hablare con su marido
Si alla en su casa el amor no puede hallar
No busque aqui que aqui no se le ha perdido

Con lo mio mio mio, con lo mio no se meta (x2)

O es que usted no ha comprendido que lo ajeno se respeta
y que para un desafio hay que ser mujer completa

Con lo mio mio mio, con lo mio soy celosa (x2)

Por cuidar de mi marido soy capaz de cualquier cosa
Enfrentar a un rio crecido o a una tigra mariposa

Oiga vecina mejor no venga mas porque me pone nerviosa
Y no se sabe como puede reaccionar
Con su rival la mujer cuando es celosa

Verdad vecina mejor no venga mas o hablare con su marido
Si alla en su casa el amor no puede hallar
No busque aqui que aqui no se le ha perdido

Con lo mio mio mio, con lo mio no se meta (x2)

Click here for a video of Fabiana Ochoa singing "Carrao Carrao"

Gaitas: Maracaibo 15 - La Negra del Tamunangue

No Venezuelan Christmas is complete without "gaitas" - popular folk music from Maracaibo. One of the greatest exponents of the art are Maracaibo 15, shown here in concert at the Poliedro stadium in Caracas on 11 November, 2006. Betulio Medina sings. Feliz Navidad!

More Gaitas: Astolfo Romero - Una Florecita

Musica Llanera - Caballo Viejo

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

Probably one of Simon Diaz' most famous songs, Caballo Viejo (Old Horse), was allegedly written by the singer to a young beauty queen. He might be an old horse, goes the song, but he still fancies his chances. It has the typical Llanos accompaniment of maracas, harp and cuatro (small, four stringed guitar). The video couldn't be slushier, but if you're into soft-focus and longing looks across a plate of steaming arepas, this one is for you. The Gipsy Kings called this song "Bamboleo" and had a huge hit with it. But Simon Diaz wrote it.

Caballo Viejo
Translated by Russell Maddicks

When love arrives like this, in this way
you don't even realise
The genipap tree comes to life again
The guamacho tree flowers
and the rope snaps

The horse is put out to pasture
because he is old and tired
but they don't realize
that a heart that is tied
when the reins are released
becomes a runaway horse

And if the old horse meets
a chestnut filly
his heart is pulverized
He ignores the bridle
and he ignores the bit
and false reins don't stop him

When love arrives like this, in this way
you are not to blame
love has no schedule
or a date on the calendar
when desires are joined

The horse is put out to pasture
and his days are numbered
he crosses the plains
with a hurried step
to meet his filly
who has poisoned him

The colt has time for time
but because he's too old
the old horse cannot
lose the flower he's given
because when this life is over
there are no more chances

Report: Simon Diaz to be honoured at Latin Grammy Awards

Click here for a video of "Angustia" by Simon Diaz remixed by Babylon Motorhome

Tambores - San Juan Bautista Fiesta in Choroni

Every year on the 24 June coastal towns and villages celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, described locally as "the saint of the blacks", or the "party saint". This is clearly a syncretic fusion of African traditions brought over by slaves and Catholic iconography. In Choroni and Chuao the statues of Saint John the Baptist are taken down from their places in the church, washed and dressed, offered rum to drink and carried in procession. Devotees carry red flags, the colour associated with San Juan, which adds to the colourful spectacle. Every couple of years there is a "meeting of the saints", when fishing boats take the various statues out to sea to meet and then go in procession to one of the coastal villages for drums, drinks and revelling. A true fusion of the sacred and the profane, folk music does not get more Venezuelan than this. For the drummers, it is a great honour to take part in the exhausting all night, all day celebrations, which generally start on the 23 June and can last up to three days or more.

Musica Llanera: Ta' Pegao

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.

Los Amigos Invisibles - Cuchi Cuchi

More retro boogaloo grooves from Los Amigos Invisibles from the album Arepa 3000.

The Benny Hill-style video takes a few seconds to warm up but stick with it.

The band are now based in New York City but Arepa 3000 harks back to the year 2000, just after they were picked up by David Byrne's Luaka Bop label.

To download Los Amigos Invisibles MP3 tracks click here:

To buy the CD "The Venezuelan Zinga Son, Vol. 1" click here:

To buy the new CD "Commercial" click here:




Video: Los Amigos Invisibles - Mentiras

Video: Los Amigos Invisibles - Diablo

Video: Los Amigos Invisibles - Playa Azul

Video: Max and Jason have lunch with Los Amigos Invisibles

CD Review: Venezuelan Zinga Son Vol 1 - Amigos Invisibles

CD Review: Arepa 3000 - Los Amigos Invisibles

Tambor Urbano - Tambores

The Afro-Venezuelan drum music of the coast gets a high-energy pop twist in the capable hands of Hector Silvera and his group Tambor Urbano, who tour the country's beaches in this video. The band was formed in 1988 by Silvera and friends from Catia in Caracas who wanted to explore their Afro-Venezuelan roots. It is still one of the best party bands in Caracas and distills the essence of tambores traditions from several places along the coast into a fiesta-friendly cocktail of mad dance beats.

Babylon Motorhome and Simon Diaz: Angustia

Simon Diaz is best known for his popular interpretations of musica llanera, the folk music of the Llanos, especially his romantic versions of working songs known as tonadas. Here, one of his lilting ballads gets a radical ska makeover by the Caracas-based band Babylon Motorhome. The track appears on the album "Simon Diaz Remixes".

Track Listing:
1. Garcita - Simón Díaz vs Rombo
2. Clavelito Colorado - Simón Díaz vs Trujillo
3. Angustia - Simón Díaz vs BMH
4. Tonada de una llena - Simón Díaz vs KP 9000
5. Sabana - Simón Díaz vs Dr Muu
6. Arbolito Sabanero - Simón Díaz vs Masseratti 2lts
7. Mi Querencia - Simón Díaz vs Panasuyo
8. Tonada del Cabrestero - Simón Díaz vs Spyro
9. Sabana - Simón Díaz vs Garnica
10. Arbolito Sabanero - Simón Díaz vs GM120 + KP9000
11. Pasaje Garcita - Simón Díaz vs Todosantos
12. Tonada del Cabrestero - Simón Díaz vs Velazco
13. Tonada de luna llena - Simón Díaz vs Trilobites
14. Mi Querencia - Simon Diaz vs Cardopusher
15. Tonada de luna llena - Simón Díaz vs La Original

Report: Simon Diaz to be honoured at Latin Grammy Awards

Click here for a video of Simon Diaz singing "Caballo Viejo"

Click here for a video of Babylon Motorhome performing "ComoCumbia"