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

Musica llanera: Reynaldo Armas - El Cardenalito

Reynaldo Armas, from the small Llanos town of Guatacaros in Guarico State, is a highly-acclaimed singer and composer of Venezuela's national folk music joropo .

Here we see him at his best singing his theme song El Cardenalito in a concert from 2008 in Bogota.

Popular throughout the country, joropo is also known as musica llanera because of its strong cultural ties to Los Llanos, the seasonally-flooded cattle plains that stretch west from the Orinoco river to Colombia.

Joropo is traditionally played on harp, maracas and cuatro, a small four-stringed guitar, and sung in a rough nasal style by cowboy types in stetsons and pointed boots.

Reynaldo Armas is perhaps Venezuela's best-loved Llanero singer after Simon Diaz and has an incredible line-up of talent in his band, including the extraordinary harpist Leonard Jacome.

Joropo, which developed in the Americas from the zarzuelas and cante jondo brought over by the Spanish, is also a dance, a sort of waltz with jerky cucaracha-stomping steps by the man, known as zapateo, and dizzy twirls by his female partner.

El Cardenalito is a song about the rare bird of the same name (Carduelis cucullata), a Venezuelan finch known as the Red Siskin in English. This beautiful little red songbird is endemic to Falcon State. Sadly, the bright red plumes of the males and their high-pitched musical call make them highly sought after as caged birds and increasingly endangered in the wild.

Reynaldo Armas earned his nickname, El Cardenalito, for his sweet voice, which he alludes to in this autobiographical song that pays homage to his humble Llanero roots. 

Here are the words, so you can sing along with Reynaldo:

Aquí está el cardenalito
el cardenal de los llanos guariqueño
el de la laguna vieja
el propio serenatero
el mismo de quince años
y el cuarto de los recuerdos.
nací en el cincuenta y tres
cuatro de agosto en una noche de invierno
el campo los guatacaros
suelo santamarieño
me recibió una mañana con relámpagos y truenos
camino siempre de frente
jamás he sido embustero
soy bastante religioso
para mi chucho es primero
el que me conoce sabe
si soy malo, si soy bueno
Modesta Enguaima y Nicasio
Nicasio Armas los que al mundo me trajeron
mi madre nos es necesario
decirle cuanto la quiero
mi viejo se me murió
que dios lo tenga en el cielo.

Maestro arpista usted que puede
yo se que puede jáleme duro el bordón
que esta noche estoy dispuesto
a regalarle mi amor
a la mujer mas bonita
que se encuentre en la reunión
y después que me enamore
amigo mío que salga o se meta el sol
me pasare todo el tiempo
derrochando inspiración
como lo hace un guariqueño
cuando entrega el corazón
saque pareja quien quiera
que en mi joropo no hay discriminación
que lo bailen zapateao
repicando ese tacón
que al arpa cuatro y maracas
vamos a rendirle honor
que lo goce y lo disfrute
el sifrinito con la hija del ricachón
la negrita Dorotea
con el zambo Juan Ramón
y hasta la viejita Bety
lo baile con tío Simón.

Esta es la primera vez que yo canto un merecure
que yo canto un merecure
como se canta en Apure
Casorla y Corozo pando
yo voy el llano cruzando
con mi verso y mi corrio
bendito este suelo mío
de belleza singular
bendito el palmarital
el arrendajo y la paraulata cantora
bendita la flor de bora
la flor de bora
que adormece en el estero
bendito sea el toro
de puntiaguda semblanza
bendita la garza blanca
con su vuelo cadencioso
bendito el caballo brioso
pacitrotero y veloz
dame talento mi dios
para cantarle a mi llano
y sentirme soberano
hay soberano
con la hidalguía del valiente
y bendito sea por siempre
por siempre siempre
mi pueblo venezolano

Devilled Ham and Joropo - Diablitos Underwood

Diablitos Underwood is a culinary institution in Venezuela, a brand of salty devilled ham that comes in little tins and tastes great spread thickly over buttered arepas or on crackers.

Every year Underwood hold a music event and for this year's Diablos Fest they've created some cute videos with cartoon bands covering different styles of Venezuelan music from the Llanero folk songs of Augusto Narciso Sisejaya Detodo, shown above, to reggaeton, hip hop, rock, electronica, ska, metal, and even a Manu Chao-style diablito, Chuchito Peraza, in the world music category.

All the tunes can be downloaded and you can vote for your favourites. Checkalo!

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.

Documentary - El Carrao de Palmarito

Venezuelan director John Petrizzelli's award-winning 1998 documentary about Llanero singer Juan de Los Santos Contreras, better known as El Carrao de Palmarito, is a classic of the genre.

The 26-minute film is in Spanish but non-Spanish speakers will still enjoy the music and the images of the Llanos region.

For more information about the life of El Carrao de Palmarito, who died in 2002 aged 74, click here:

Legend of the LLanos - El Carrao de Palmarito

Venezuelan folk music lost one of its greatest legends on 10 December 2002 with the passing of Juan de los Santos Contreras, a composer, singer and arranger of traditional Joropo music, better known to his fans as El Carrao de Palmarito.

He was 74.

El Carrao left behind 17 children, more than 40 albums of music, a movie he made in the 60s with Mexican singer Javier Solis, an award-winning documentary about his life and hundreds of trophies won in singing contests in Venezuela and Colombia.

He was a true "hijo de la llanura", a son of the Llanos, the great flood plains of the Orinoco basin that extend into Colombia.

He was born in 1928 in the small village of Palmarito in Apure State to a mestizo mother from the Andes and a Yaruro Indian father from the banks of the Orinoco.

He would always say that his nickname was given to him by a presenter at Radio Barinas called Luis Eduardo Camejo who thought the piercing cry that he starts his songs with sounded like the mating call of the Carrao, the local name of the jacana (jacana jacana), a small wading bird endemic to the Llanos.

Like many young boys in the countryside of Apure in those days, by the age of seven he was working on a cattle ranch and supporting himself.

He experienced poverty and loneliness and lived the authentic lifestyle of the barefoot cowboys of the Llanos, living hard and playing hard.

As he grew up he soaked up the local Joropo music and would sing along with the Conjuntos Llaneros, the traditional combo of harp, cuatro (small four-stringed guitar) and maracas.

There are many forms of joropo but El Carrao's speciality was telling stories of Llanos life to the accompaniment of a hard driving golpe beat

He could also invent verses on the spot and was a master of contrapunteo, the rap-style competitions between two singers who use their verbal skills and mental agility to try and outdo each other.

His greatest hits include the driving golpe "Furia" ("Fury") and "Florentino y el Diablo" ("Florentino and the Devil") about a cowboy who meets and defeats the devil in a singing contest by inventing the most verses.

The song was based on a poem by the Barinas poet Alberto Arvelo Torrealba and featured Jose Romero Bello as Florentino and El Carrao as the Devil.

Joropo singers are generally divided into two camps: romantico , such as Simon Diaz and the harpist Juan Vicente Torrealba, and recio , such as Luiz Lozado "El Cubiro".

El Carrao de Palmarito was definitely recio, with an extraordinary powerful voice that he never lost even in old age.

He even went across the border to take on the Colombian Llaneros in open singing contests and twice he defeated the best of the best.

In 1998 he received the National Prize for Popular Culture, Venezuela's highest award.

Simon Diaz said of him: "This man was one of the most important singers that the Venezuelan Llanos has ever seen. For a regular singer like myself it was an immense honour to share the stage with him in the concerts that we did together."

"Venezuela cried a lot when the news came out of his death, especially the people of the Llanos," said Diaz. "He was the same age as me, we were both born in 1928. He has gone ahead of me but I'm sure that when my time comes he'll be up there singing with God to welcome me."

By Russell Maddicks

Click here to see John Petrizzelli's 1998 documentary about the life of El Carrao de Palmarito

Simon Diaz - Alma Llanera

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

"Alma Llanera" is the country's second national anthem, a song that pays homage to the wide open plains of the Llanos and the importance of "musica llanera" to Venezuela's cultural identity.

Visit Venezuela and you're sure to hear this at the opening or closing of a popular fiesta, on TV or the radio. Countless versions of the song exist and smooth crooners like Julio Iglesias and operatic masters like Placido Domingo have all tapped into its popularity.

Venezuelan pop group Los Amigos Invisibles even tackled it for their last album "Superpop Venezuela".

This version is performed by folk singer and composer "Tio" Simon Diaz (born 8 August, 1928), a legend of traditional Venezuelan music who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin Grammy's in November 2008.

The song has a long history. The music was composed in the form of a "joropo" by Pedro Elias Gutierrez, a band leader from La Guaira, for a "zarzuela" of the same name performed on 19 September, 1914, at the Teatro Caracas.

"Zarzuela" was the name for comic folk operas that became popular in 17th century Spain and are named after Philip IV's Zarzuela Palace.

The lyrics of the song, which were penned by the writer Rafael Bolivar Coronado, stay true to the "zarzuela" tradition by encapsulating the wild beauty of the rugged Llanos while the music draws on the folk style of "joropo", the music of the Llanos.

As you can see from the lyrics (below) Bolivar Coronado created an idealized vision of thundering rivers, white ibises, sunshine and roses and people who love, cry, sing and dream "with carnations of passion".

Not surprisingly, "Alma Llanera" became an instant hit and President Juan Vicente Gomez was so pleased with the tune that he paid for Bolivar Coronado to visit Spain on a scholarship from which he never returned.

So, let's all sing along:

Yo naci en esta ribera del Arauca vibrador
Soy hermano de la espuma
De las garzas de las rosas
Soy hermano de la espuma
De las garzas de las rosas
Y del sol (del sol) y del sol.

Me arrullo la viva diana de la brisa en el palmar
Y por eso tengo el alma
Como el alma primorosa
Y por eso tengo el alma
Como el alma primorosa
De cristal de cristal.

Amo, lloro, canto, sueño
Con claveles de pasion
Con claveles de pasion.
Para aunar las rubias crines
Para aunar las rubias crines
Del potro que monto yo.
Yo naci en esta ribera
Del Arauca vibrador
Soy hermano de la espuma
De las garzas de las rosas y del sol.



Report: Simon Diaz honoured at Latin Grammy Awards

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

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

Click here for a video of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra playing "Alma LLanera" at the BBC Proms in London's Albert Hall in 2007

Musica Llanera: Conjunto Hato Cedral - Pajarillo

The Llanero cowboys and the rest of the staff at the isolated cattle ranch of Hato Cedral in Apure State - easily the best place to see wildlife in all of Venezuela - come together in the evenings to play musica llanera for their guests.

For the Venezuelan cowboys it's a chance to get out the harp and sing a joropo or two for the birdwatchers and assorted nature nuts who come to the ranch to get up close and personal with piranhas, anacondas, alligators and the Zen-like chiguires - the biggest rodents on the planet.

There is no better place to hear musica llanera than on a working cattle ranch, amid the whoops and whistles of the myriad birds that inhabit the rivers and partially-flooded plains and the thunder of galloping horses as cowboys round up hardy Zebu cows.

Joropo is a fast-galloping form of musica llanera played on harp, the small four-stringed cuatro guitar and maracas.

Conjunto Hato Cedral is just a loose name for these part-time musicians, who will swap instruments during the course of the evening, or entreat a compañero to come forward and sing a favourite song.

The guy with the cowboy hat playing maracas is none other than my old mate Victor, the best birding guide at Hato Cedral and a real character.

It was Victor who introduced me to my first anaconda by draping it around my neck.

To contact Hato El Cedral visit their website: http://www.elcedral.com

Musica Llanera: Fabiana Ochoa - Carrao Carrao

Carrao, Carrao (Words and Music: Jose "Cheo" Ramirez)

En la plena oscuridad
en la noche de mi llano
canta un carrao

yo no sé por qué será
pero lo noté cantando
más lamentando

Sería que él adivinó
que mi amor con otro amor
se fue muy lejos

Si las cosas son así
carraíto hazme un favor
sé que eres bueno

Carrao, carrao, convida a tu
compañero
el gallito lagunero
que la salgan a buscar
díganle que ya no aguanto
entre el dolor y el llanto
conmigo van a acabar
díganle que no hay rencor
que le perdono su error
que regrese a mi lugar (x2)

Carrao síguele la huella
que mi llano taciturno
se enlutará

no brillarán las estrellas
ni la luna en plenilunio
no alumbrará

aunque tengo la esperanza
es la última que muere
del que regrese

carrao, sigue sus andanzas
pregúntales si me quiere o me
aborrece

Carrao, carrao, convida a tu
compañero
el gallito lagunero
que la salgan a buscar
díganle que ya no aguanto
entre el dolor y el llanto
conmigo van a acabar
díganle que no hay rencor
que le perdono su error
que regrese a mi lugar (x2)

Click here for a video of Fabiana Ochoa singing "La Vecina"

Reggaeton: Caballo Viejo

The Gipsy Kings might have sold more records with Bamboleo, their version of Caballo Viejo - Simon Diaz' classic of musica llanera - but the first person to have a worldwide hit with the track was Cuban sonero Roberto Torres. Now Torres is back with Venezuelan rapper Andres Eduardo Perez Fernandez, A.K.A Andre MC, with a reggaeton version.
The track comes from Andre's new album Lyrikal, which was released at the end of 2007.
For a boy born in Valencia - before he moved to Miami - you would have thought Andres could have squeezed in a harp and some maracas. Instead he's gone with Torres' Vallenato-inspired version.

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"

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

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.

Musica Llanera: Gaban

Everyone raves about Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela but check out Carlos Miguel Meza and Junior Parra. Carlos does his best impression of Jack Black in School of Rock on the bandola here as he shows us how a "Gaban" should be played.

Musica Llanera: William Sarquiz - Pecho Rajao

From the Llanos state of Barinas singer William Sarquiz takes an old-school approach on his hit single "Pecho Rajao" ("Broken Heart" is the closest translation). Sad songs like this are known as "canciones del despecho" and usually involve gallons of aguardiente (cane alcohol) to dull the pain of a lost love. The music is known as a "pasaje" and the singer's nasal tone is typical of Musica Llanera. The video shows some of the birds that are found on these seasonally-flooded plains.