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Cuaco,
a superb, multi-faceted musical institution who had a couple of
brilliant international releases in the early nineties, come from
Maracaibo. Some folk music from songstress/ acoustic guitarist
Soledad Bravo, occasionally. You might be lucky
to pick up some musica llanera…the harp music of the plains..if
you search a specialist latin music store but that’s just
about it. As far as Venezuela goes we’ve hit a musical dead-end.
And because we’re all human and intrinsically conservative
we must think consequently that there’s nothing there….
if we think about it at all. Let me tell you that this vast country
is the birth-place of literally hundreds of original musical styles
that shuffle the influences of African, Spanish and local Indian
music into endless permutations. Every village has its own variations
of local genres or completely different ones altogether…local
variations of instruments such as the cuatro (indigenous guitar),
bandola (pear shaped guitar descended from the Arabic oud), arpa
(harp) and over 80 different types of drums, as well as any Western
instrument you care to name.
Venezuela also boasts its own form of calypso developed in the
El Callao region by the descendants of Trinidadian prospectors
who flocked there during the South American gold rush of the 1880s.
World Music Network have tried to condense all this into 19 selections
(73:22) on their release “The Rough Guide To Venezuela”,
an impossible task, but you’ll be glad that the compilers
tried because this is one of the best overviews of the music of
any Latin-American country that I’ve been privileged to
hear. Add that fact to the criminal scarcity of Venezuelan music
and this collection becomes absolutely indispensable.
The sheer variety is astonishing…virtuosic musica llanera,
African inspired choirs and a bevy of pulsing rhythms, pieces
that call to mind Colombian porro or cumbia, hair-raising salsa
from Oscar, Dimension Latina and Cuaco, very creative jazzy calypso
with startling vocal arrangements and cracker bandola solo: poetry
at every corner. It is not an intended deprecation of the entries
of all the exceptional artists on “Venezuela” if I
limit my comments to one artist and one group. The sumptuous 12
page liner booklet will tell and show all, as will the music.
Even casual listeners to commercial radio (I’m less than
casual) will recall the hit Bamboleo of the early 90’s.
What Spanish gitano-pop group The Gypsy Kings did was to add the
catchy bamboleo chorus to a song by Venezuelan music llanera genius
Simon Diaz’s song “El Caballo Viejo”. You don’t
have to understand Spanish to feel the poetry ringing from Simon’s
rough-edged immaculately phrased voice backed by superb arpa llanera
as he sings about el caballo viejo (the old horse) in search of
a potranca (young mare)….plenty of permutations there!
This is cowboy music. And here I was thinking that cowboys were
pieces of wood when in reality they’re literary and musical
giants. Maracaibo 15 are a group who play gaita, a northern style
of carnival music performed during Xmas celebrations. On “Palo
Palo” they’ve beefed up the call and response between
vocals and drums to give an exciting demonstration of what Afro-Venezuelan
music is about. Between those two poles the music steams like
a rich, multi-flavoured Afro-Indian paella. External influences
such as Cuban music are firmly integrated into the Venezuelan
landscape. No ephemeral trendiness in an attempt to make a few
extra bucks. This is the real deal and you already know the drill.
RJ June 2004
