Music of Venezuela
Encyclopedia
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
is an expression of the Venezuelan culture, which contains diverse Music genre
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
s, traditional and moderns according with the features of each geographic region
Regions of Venezuela
Venezuela's states, capital district, and federal dependencies have been grouped into administrative regions since a 1969 decree on regionalization that institutionalized a process of region development...
; although it is frequent to find different musical styles in the same region. The diversity in musical expressions found in Venezuela can be seen as the result of a mixture of African, native Indigenous, European (especially Spanish) influences, as well as more modern American
Music of the United States
The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationally-renowned genres are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, barbershop, pop, techno, and rock and roll. The United States has the...
and Caribbean music
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
al forms, such as Trinidadian
Music of Trinidad and Tobago
Calypso music and steelpan is what Trinidad and Tobago is best known for, including internationally in the 1950s through artists like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow; the art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte...
and Cuban
Music of Cuba
The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the 19th century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world...
.
Joropo llanero
Several styles, of the traditional music of VenezuelaVenezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, such as salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
and merengue
Venezuelan merengue
The word merengue designates a musical form extended through all the Caribbean. The first occurrences of merengue in print in Venezuela are from scores of “dance merengue” of the second-half of the 19th century . As a dance craze, merengue acquired popularity in Caracas during the 1920s. It is...
, are common to its Caribbean neighbors. Perhaps the most typical Venezuelan music is joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
, a rural form which originated in the llanos
Llanos
The Llanos is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the Flooded grasslands and savannas Biome....
, or plains. This musica llanera
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
was developed by creative artists such as Juan Vicente Torrealba
Juan Vicente Torrealba
Juan Vicente Torrealba Pérez in Caracas, Venezuela, is a Venezuelan harpist and composer of popular music.Although born on the outskirts of Caracas, the family moved while he was very young to a ranch in Camaguán, Guárico. The poverty of the family and the region were such that he worked as a...
, Ignacio Figueredo
Ignacio Figueredo
Ignacio Ventura Figueredo , was a Venezuelan folk musician and harpist.-His early successes:At age 11 he made his first public presentations in San Juan de Payara...
and Angel Custodio Loyola
Ángel Custodio Loyola
Ángel Custodio Loyola , was a Venezuelan singer and composer, better known for being pioneering at the diffusion of joropo and the popular music of the Venezuelan plains, also for being defender of the country’s folklore, and his work for the masification of Venezuelan music, popularizing and being...
, who helped to popularize the music throughout the country. Since then a slick, contemporary form of pop-llanera has developed which has earned the scorn of some purists who perceive it as stale and watered-down. Some singers, such as Simon Diaz
Simón Díaz
Simón Narciso Díaz Márquez is a singer and Grammy Award winning composer of Venezuelan music.- Career :Díaz has endeavored to recover the folklore and musical traditions of the llanos, the Venezuelan plains...
and Reynaldo Armas
Reynaldo Armas
Reynaldo Armas, born in Los Guatacaros, Santa María de Ipire, Guárico State, Venezuela, August 4, 1953, is a Venezuelan llanero singer and composer.-Early life and career:His parents were Nicasio Armas Figueroa and Modesta Enguaima Hernandez....
have maintained a huge following over the years. In a similar vein, there is also neo-folklore, which takes traditional music and arranges it in an electronic style.
Folk
Aguinaldo
Aguinaldo is a folk genre of Christmas music in Puerto Rico, and is based on an archaic form of Spanish Christmas carols. Aguinaldo music is often performed by what is called parrandas—a casual group of people, often family or friends, who go from house to house.- Puerto Rican aguinaldo :In...
, conforms the national representation of the Venezuelan Christmas. In the east, the malagueña
Malagueña (genre)
The Malagueña is a typical folk music from the Venezuelan east. In this genre, the mandolin is the main instrument, simultaneously that the cuatro and the guitar serve as companions. It is characterized that the malagueña songs, have sad and melancholic melody, in tribute to the Virgen del Valle,...
, punto
Punto (Venezuela)
The punto is a musical genre characteristic from the east of Venezuela, that is interpreted along with the galerón and Fulía at the celebration of the velorios de cruz....
and galerón accompanies the velorios de cruz de mayo, (religious tradition, that is celebrated on May 3 in honor to the Christian cross). In the Venezuelan Andes, the Venezuelan bambuco
Venezuelan bambuco
This musical genre is typical from the Andean region , it is also found in the States of Zulia, Bolívar, Lara and in the Capital District ; in the latter found in the form of romanticmelodies....
is a local variation of the bambuco
Bambuco
Bambuco is a traditional music genre originated from Colombia. It has a beat structure similar to the European waltz or polska...
. Other forms include polo
Polo (music)
Polo designates two forms of Venezuelan folk music. One that originates from Margarita Island and another one that is played in Coro, in the state of Falcón. In main lines, this genre is interpreted using cuatro, maracas, mandolin, guitar and voice...
and the Venezuelan waltz
Venezuelan waltz
- History :Between the hall dances that arrived to Venezuela during the 19th century, waltz has been the one of greater root and dispersion. Waltz consists of a musical expression derived from an Austrian popular dance, the ländler...
.
Other forms of Venezuelan folk music are tensively recorded and researched due to the work of Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
-based Fundación Bigott
Fundación Bigott
Fundación Bigott is a private institution in Venezuela; it is dedicated to "preserving and making known making known the values of traditional culture".- History :...
. African-derived percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
(including multiple rhythms, such as sangueo, fulia
Fulía
Fulía is a typical musical style of the Venezuelan coast, it is sung or recited, and is interpreted with: cuatro, guitar, mandolin, maracas and a square drum in the east of Venezuela, and the tambora of velorio or tamborita in the central region...
, parranda
Parranda
Parranda or Parranda de aguinaldo is a musical form from the coastal area of the states Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela where the tambora becomes present as the main accompanying instrument in an Afro-Venezuelan influence...
and tamborera
Tamborera
Tamborera is an Afro-Venezuelan folk genre of music that features rich use of the tambora drum in carrying the main beat. It emerged in the state of Zulia in western Venezuela, most notably in the region surrounding Maracaibo Lake...
) is perhaps the best documented musical form. Fundacion Bigott has also produced groups such Un Solo Pueblo, Huracán de Fuego
Huracán de Fuego
The group of the Venezuelan Caribbean, Huracán de Fuego, arrived with the only aim to sing and to dance the drum. A drum, or better, drums taken from the area of Maracaibo by black enslaved, coming from which today is Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Where in...
and Grupo Madera. These more experimental fusion artists combine rumba
Cuban Rumba
In Cuban music, Rumba is a generic term covering a variety of musical rhythms and associated dances. The rumba has its influences in the music brought to Cuba by Africans brought to Cuba as slaves as well as Spanish colonizers...
, Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
, joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
, salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, Venezuelan traditional chants and other forms of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n music.
Venezuelan calypso music
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
(including Calypso de El Callao
Calypso de El Callao
During the 19th century Trinidadians and other Caribbean islanders began migration to Venezuela, particularly in the city of El Callao to work in the gold mines. They brought the music of Calypso with them, which later became very popular in the city. The folk music is a mixture of Venezuelan and...
), imported from Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
in the 1880s by immigrants arriving during a gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
, has its own distinctive rhythms and lyrical style.
Caribbean
Another imported genre is CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-American salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, which has produced several domestic superstars, including Oscar D'Leon
Oscar D'León
Oscar Emilio León Somoza, better known as Oscar D'León is a Venezuelan musician who became internationally famous for his salsa music. In Spanish, he is known as El Sonero del Mundo . His most famous song is perhaps "Llorarás," which he recorded in 1975 with his group La Dimensión Latina...
.
Dominican
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
merengue
Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance from the Dominican Republic. It is popular in the Dominican Republic and all over Latin America. Its name is Spanish, taken from the name of the meringue, a dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar...
and Latin pop acts such as Billo's Caracas Boys
Billo Frómeta
Billo Frómeta was a Dominican Republic orchestra conductor, arranger and composer who lived and worked most of his life in Venezuela, where he is remembered.- Early career :...
, the Porfi Jiménez Orchestra
Porfi Jiménez
Porfirio Antonio Jiménez Núñez was a Dominican-born Venezuelan Latin music composer, arranger, and bandleader. A native of Hato Mayor Province, he played professionally under the name Porfi Jiménez....
and Los Melódicos
Los Melódicos
Los Melódicos are a Latin dance band from Venezuela that plays a blend of Colombian, Cuban and Dominican rhythms. The orchestra was assembled by Renato Capriles in Caracas during the late 1950s, making their debut in a local radio station on July 15, 1958...
.
Pop and Rock
Ricardo Montaner
Ricardo Montaner is an Argentine-Venezuelan singer and songwriter. Starting his career in the early 80s, he has already released more than 15 albums with numerous successful singles and has sold over 22 million record worldwide.-Early years:Montaner was born as Héctor Eduardo Reglero Montaner, in...
, José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma", Franco DeVita, and Ilan Chester
Ilan Chester
Ilan Chester is a celebrated Venezuelan singer, keyboardist, arranger and composer. Born in Israel in 1952, of European parents, Ilan emigrated to Venezuela in 1953.- Biography :...
have gained popularity in other Latin American countries. Douglas Vale is the only Venezuelan to gain worldwide success in parts like Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. He is described to be an alternative and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer. Vale has sold over 19 million copies worldwide making him the most successful Venezuelan artist today. On the other hand, same history for a lot of well known bands like Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
(Naturalismo), Los Amigos Invisibles
Los Amigos Invisibles
Los Amigos Invisibles is a multiple-Grammy nominated and Latin Grammy winning Venezuelan band that plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms...
(Acid Jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
), Desorden Publico
Desorden Público
Desorden Público is a ska/rock band founded in 1985 in Caracas, Venezuela.The band's music mixes ska, latin rock, reggae and traditional Latin music styles. The group's lyrics are known for commenting on Venezuela's and Latin America's politics and society...
(Ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
/Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
), King Chango
King Changó
King Changó is a Latin ska band from New York City, New York with roots in Venezuela. Its name comes from Changó, the Afro-Cuban god of war.King Changó is back; check .- Members :* José Andrés Blanco, Blanquito Man -...
(Ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
/Latin American music
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
), Culto oculto
Culto oculto
Culto ocultO is an experimental music band from Venezuela and Spain.-History:CULTO OCULTO is an Venezuelan rock band, founded in 1989 by guitarist José henriquez, bass player Sydney "Gato" Reyes and keyboard player Ricardo Da Silva Typically categorised as a foundational an experimental, dark and...
(Experimental/Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
), Caramelos de Cianuro
Caramelos de Cianuro
Caramelos de Cianuro is a Latin rock band from Venezuela formed in 1991. They recorded their first songs, "Nadando a Través De la Galaxia" and "Tu Mamá Te Va a Pegar" , in 1992.-Career:...
(Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
), and the now extinct but influential groups Sentimiento Muerto (:es:Sentimiento Muerto) (Post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
), Zapato 3 (:es:Zapato 3) (Pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
), and Dermis Tatú (:es:Dermis Tatú) (Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
).
In the late 90s a very strong electronic music movement spread through the country. Several big multimedia festivals took place, such as "Caracas No Duerme," "AX," "Petaquire," and "Mare Nostrum." These events combined music with the video and performance art of Venezuelan artists such as Luis Poleo, Frank Wow, and Sony. The main bands/DJ's of this era are Ojo Fatuo
Ojo Fatuo
Ojo Fatuo is an electronic/rock music group from Caracas, Venezuela. Founded by DJ Luar and Frank Wow in the early nineties as an experimental post-punk band, the original lineup included Carlos Hernandez on bass guitar, and Tommy , who is the brother of Pancho Tomaselli Ojo Fatuo is an...
, DJ Oddo and DJ Wyz.
From 2000 until present, a lot of Venezuelan artists have made a strong movement into different underground music styles. The most significant ones are: Masseratti 2lts :es:Masseratti 2lts (Downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
), La Vida Boheme
La Vida Bohème
La Vida Bohème is an alternative independent band from Caracas, Venezuela, formed by Rafael Perez, Daniel De Sousa, Sebastian Ayala, and Henry D'Arthenay in late 2006 and mid 2007. The band takes influence from late '80s punk, disco, funk, electronic music, jazz, salsa, reggae and dance music...
(Post-Punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
), Viniloversus (Indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
), KP-9000 (Trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
), Cardopusher (Breakcore
Breakcore
Breakcore is a style of electronic music largely influenced by hardcore techno, drum and bass and Intelligent dance music. Its sound is largely characterized by a high-tempo, well-timed mingling of distorted kick drums , break beats arranged from samples of the Amen break, and audio samples from a...
), Nuuro (IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
), Patafunk
Patafunk
Patafunk is a Venezuelan band that combines dance, love, nature and spirituality -PATA- with a mixture of music genres like house, soul, tropical, reggae -FUNK- creating this way their very own unique sound....
(Tropical/Funk), FamasLoop (trip-hop/electronica), Todosantos
Todosantos
Todosantos is an audiovisual electronic indie band from Brooklyn, NY, recently relocated from Caracas, Venezuela. Stylus Magazine described their album Aeropuerto as "one of the more beguiling, multi-faceted debuts of recent years." Their latest EP Acid Girlzzz is a departure from their previous...
(Nu Rave/Indietronica), Jimmy Flamante (Breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
), Las Americas (Shoegaze), Dondi (Jungle/Downtempo), Retrovértigo (Post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
), Lis (Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
), Tercer Cuarto (Metal Alternativo), Panasuyo (Neo-folcklore), Pacheko (Dubstep
Dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
) and Los Javelin (Surf-rock/Rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
).
Classical music
Antonio Lauro
Antonio Lauro was a Venezuelan musician, considered to be one of the foremost South American composers for the Guitar in the 20th century.- Biography :Antonio Lauro was born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela...
, Moisés Moleiro
Moisés Moleiro
Moisés Moleiro was a pianist and composer. Moleiro had only three months of tuition at the age of six with Manuel Martí Sansón. In 1924, he began four years of music studies in Caracas under the renowned piano teacher Don Salvador Llamozas. In 1927 Moleiro graduated as a pianist. His first...
, Teresa Carreño
Teresa Carreño
María Teresa Carreño García de Sena was a Venezuelan pianist, singer, composer, and conductor.Born into a musical family, she was at first taught by her father, then by Mathias, Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Anton Rubinstein and her talent was recognized at an early age...
(who was also a world-renowned pianist), Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California...
and Eduardo Marturet
Eduardo Marturet
Eduardo Marturet is a Venezuelan conductor and composer.Born in Caracas, Marturet studied in Cambridge, England, where he obtained a degree in piano, percussion, conducting, and composition...
(who are primarily international conductors), Antonio Estévez
Antonio Estévez
Antonio Estévez Aponte , was a Venezuelan musician, composer, and conductor, and founder of the Central University of Venezuela Chorus.Estévez was born to Mariano Estévez and Carmen Aponte...
, Federico Ruiz (who also works with other genres) and Vicente Emilio Sojo
Vicente Emilio Sojo
Vicente Emilio Sojo was a Venezuelan musicologist, educator and composer, born in Guatire, Miranda.- Biography :...
(known for his contributions to Venezuelan musicology and music education). Roberto Ruscitti
Roberto Ruscitti
Roberto Ruscitti , is an Italian composer, soloist and pianist, Nationally and internationally recognized for his compositions, and interpretation of Venezuelan folk music...
followed in their footsteps.
Venezuela also houses a national network of public conservatories and music schools; there are also private music schools and institutions. Institutes of higher learning that specialize in music or have a music department include Universidad de las Artes, whose music department is the former Instituto Universitario de Estudios Musicales; Universidad Central de Venezuela, which gives diplomas in music performance and postgraduate degrees in musicology
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
, including doctorates; Universidad Simón Bolívar
Universidad Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar University or USB, is a public institution located in Miranda State, Venezuela with scientific and technological orientation....
, whose music department awards Master of Music degrees in several areas including composition
Musical form
The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
, conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, and music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
; and Universidad de los Andes. Prominent composers and musicians who have taught, founded or studied in these institutions include María Guinand
Maria Guinand
Maria Guinand is an internationally renowned choral conductor.María Guinand received her bachelor's and master's degrees in music from the University of Bristol, England in 1976 and 1982, respectively...
(who was one of the founders of the Master of Music program of Universidad Simón Bolívar), Diana Arismendi, Ricardo Teruel, Adina Izarra
Adina Izarra
Adina Izarra is a Venezuelan musician, music educator and composer.-Biography:Adina Izarra was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She studied music under Alfredo del Mónaco in Caracas and received her Ph. D...
, Josefina Benedetti
Josefina Benedetti
Josefina Benedetti is a Venezuelan-American composer, musicologist and choral director.-Biography:Josefina Benedetti was born in New Haven, Connecticut...
, Alfredo Rugeles, Abraham Abreu
Abraham Abreu
Abraham Abreu is a Venezuelan harpsichordist and pianist . He earned a Masters of Music from Yale University in harpsichord and piano performance before becoming an internationally celebrated concert performer...
, Aquiles Baez, Pablo Gil and Carlos Duarte
Carlos Duarte
Carlos Duarte was a Venezuelan composer and pianist. His premier recital was at age 11 and at 16 he won a national award for composition. He became noted as a composer of small pieces for piano and works for the theater. He also was an interpreter of Contemporary classical music...
.
Venezuela also has El Sistema
El Sistema
El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector music education program in Venezuela, originally called Social Action for Music. Its official name is Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, , and sometimes translated to English as...
, a publicly financed voluntary sector music education program. The country's symphony orchestras include the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra
Venezuela Symphony orchestra
The Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela was founded by a group of 26 professional musicians met at the invitation of the maestro Vicente Emilio Sojo following the dissolution on January, 1929 of the Union Filarmónica Nacional.This meeting took place January 15, 1930 in the Caracas Musical Declamation...
, Mérida State Symphony Orchestra
Mérida State Symphony Orchestra
The Mérida State Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in the Venezuelan city of Mérida...
, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar
Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar
The Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar is a Venezuelan orchestra. It is the apex of the nation's system of youth orchestras under the auspices of Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, known colloquially as El Sistema...
.
Composers
Juana Maria de la Concepcion, commonly referred to as Conny MéndezConny Méndez
Juana María de la Concepción, commonly referred as Conny Méndez, was born on 11 April 1898 in Caracas, Venezuela, and died in Miami, 26 November 1979. She was a composer, singer, writer, caricaturist, actress and metaphysican....
, born 11 April 1898 in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, was a composer, singer, writer, caricaturist and actress who produced more than 40 compositions, such as: Yo soy venezolana, Chucho y Ceferina, La Negrita Marisol, Venezuela Habla Cantando, and many others.
Rubén Cedeño
Rubén Cedeño
Rubén Cedeño , is a Venezuelan musician, writer and speaker on metaphysical subjects. He was a disciple of Conny Méndez, who in 1946 founded the Metaphysical Teachings in Venezuela. He was one of her students and they had a very close relationship based on the teachings and their friendship as well...
, composer of folk and infantile music of Venezuela, he appears in the Venezuelan music encyclopedia. Singer, composer, investigator, painter and writer.
His most recognized works are: The Aguinaldo
Aguinaldo
Aguinaldo is a folk genre of Christmas music in Puerto Rico, and is based on an archaic form of Spanish Christmas carols. Aguinaldo music is often performed by what is called parrandas—a casual group of people, often family or friends, who go from house to house.- Puerto Rican aguinaldo :In...
Que Navidad part of the Venezuelan Christmas repertoire and interpreted by the mezzosoprano Morella Muñoz
Morella Muñoz
Morella Muñoz , was a celebrated Venezuelan mezzosoprano.- Early life and career :She received primary education at the Venezuela Ricardo Zuloaga Experimental school, and the San José de Tarbes school...
, Cantata infantil Simón Bolívar, Misa de Mi Tierra among others. It was National Prize of popular music of the INAVI with his valse Nora. The hymn Hail to the Statue of Liberty, received the congratulation of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
.
Aldemaro Romero
Aldemaro Romero
Aldemaro Romero was a Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger and orchestral conductor. He was born in Valencia, Carabobo State.-Biography:...
was a prolific Venezuelan composer. He composed a wide range of music, working in genres such as Caribbean, jazz, Venezuelan waltzes and symphonic works, which helped to modernize Venezuelan folk music.
Notable musicians and groups
Other Venezuelan musicians of note are: Alberto NaranjoAlberto Naranjo
Alberto Naranjo [nah-rahn'-ho] is a musician. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His mother, the singer Graciela Naranjo, was a radio, film and television pioneer in her homeland...
, Cheo Hurtado
Cheo Hurtado
Cheo Hurtado is a Venezuelan musician, one of the most celebrated virtuoso performers of the cuatro, whose extremely agile strumming technique is currently believed to be unsurpassed. He also plays mandolin, bandola and guitar.-Biography:...
, Hernán Gamboa
Hernán Gamboa
Hernan Gamboa was born in San Tomé, in the State of Anzoátegui, located in the eastern part of Venezuela, June 18, 1946. He is the son of Carmito Gamboa Almeida and Carmen Alexis Gamboa....
, Gualberto Ibarreto
Gualberto Ibarreto
Gualberto Ibarreto , is a folk singer who plays the mandolin, cuatro, and guitar.During his childhood, he taught himself how to play several instruments after observing popular musicians of the Venezuelan east. He later received some slight knowledge of academic music from Tobías Hernandez and Raul...
, Rudy Regalado
Rudy Regalado (musician)
Héctor José Regalado was a Venezuelan Latin music bandleader, percussionist, composer and educator. He played professionally under the name Rudy Regalado.-Profile:...
, Juan Carlos Salazar
Juan Carlos Salazar
Juan Carlos Salazar is a well known Venezuelan singer and cuatro player. Juan Carlos was born in Caripito, a small town in the State of Monagas. Born to a singer, guitarist and cuatro player and a composer, Juan Carlos learned how to play cuatro and guitar by ear.Juan Carlos Salazar actually began...
, Huáscar Barradas
Huáscar Barradas
Huáscar Barradas is a Venezuelan flutist and Professor of flute at the "Instituto Universitario de de Estudios Musicales" in Caracas. As a flutist he has represented Venezuela at a range of international festivals and as both soloist and symphonic musician plays a wide range of music types...
, Cecilia Todd
Cecilia Todd
Cecilia Todd is a singer and cuatro executant.From very young the love of music, initially fed by her family group, awakened in Cecilia...
, Soledad Bravo
Soledad Bravo
Soledad Bravo , is a Venezuelan singer.Born in Logroño, La Rioja, Spain her father was a Spanish republican, moving to Venezuela with his family when his daughter was still at an early age. At 24, Soledad began studying architecture and philosophy at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where she...
, Vidal Colmenares
Vidal Colmenares
Vidal Colmenares was born on February 14, 1952 in Caño de Indio, a neighborhood in Barinas, deep inside the llanos.When he was 15 years old, started to sing parrandas llaneras in his home town...
, María Teresa Chacín
María Teresa Chacín
'María Teresa Chacín , is a famous Venezuelan singer, in her career has brought Venezuelan music to all parts of her country, and has become one of the most popular figures of Venezuela...
, Italo Pizzolante
Italo Pizzolante
Italo Pizzolante was a Venezuelan poet, composer, musician, professor and engineer of Italian descent. Author of famous songs like Motivos, Mi Puerto Cabello, among others. Pizzolante was married to Nelly Negrón....
and Luis Silva as well as the groups Serenata Guayanesa
Serenata Guayanesa
Serenata Guayanesa is a vocal and instrumental quartet that plays typical Venezuelan folk music. It is one of the two best known groups playing this music .-Origins of the group:...
, Guaco
Guaco (band)
Tropical music band from Venezuela that was formed in Maracaibo by Mario Viloria and Gustavo Aguado, Zulia in 1968. Mario retired after being the main founder because of college studies but during his participation in the group he was the main composer for several years and his home was the main...
, Ensamble Gurrufio
Ensamble Gurrufío
The Ensamble Gurrufío is a celebrated quartet dedicated to the research, arrangement and reinterpretation of Venezuelan instrumental music. Their approach has to do with a new, classically-schooled, educated style, but allowing for improvisation as a fundamental element, leaving ample room for the...
, and Malegua.
See also
- Opera in VenezuelaOpera in VenezuelaIn Venezuela, since the opening of the Teatro Caracas and, earlier, the Teatro Maderero , there whas been a great lyrical tradition ranging from serious opera to operetta, zarzuela, and Spanish musical reviews....
- Nueva canción#Venezuela
- Alí PrimeraAlí PrimeraAlí Rafael Primera Rosell was a musician, composer, poet, and Venezuelan political activist. He was born in Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela on October 31, 1942 and died in Caracas on February 16, 1985...
- Venezuelan work songsVenezuelan work songs- Songs of milking : The milking songs are those associate to the milking of cows with the purpose of tranquilizing the animal during the task. It is custom in Venezuela to give name him to the cows. The milk man flame to the cow by its name and improvises verses of eight syllables in which...
- Listen llanero music of Venezuela
External links
Audio clips: Traditional music of Venezuela. Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010.- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Afro-Venezuelan music of the coast. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Harp playing cowboys of the central plains. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- Llanera Music