Saúl Vera
Encyclopedia
Saúl Vera is a Venezuela
n musician, bandola
executant and composer.
At the age of seven, he began to learn to play the cuatro
and the mandolin
next to his older brother. Through him he became acquainted with diverse popular musicians who had influence in his musical formation.
At the age of 16, he began his bandola studies, received private lessons from Eduardo Serrano
and made formal studies at the Jose Lorenzo Llamoza music school, where he learned jazz harmony and piano with Gerry Weil
.
In 1976 he began learning to play the bandola llanera, a stringed instrument from the lute family played in the Venezuelan plains since the 16th century. On his own initiative, he learned to play all the stringed instruments used in Venezuelan music. In 1980, he was invited by the government of Japan to a youth interchange. He subsequently left university to concentrate definitively on music.
In 1986, he founded the group Saúl Vera y ensamble to popularize folk and popular Venezuelan music, integrated by: flute
, French Oboe
, clarinet
, Bassoon
, horn
, bass, maracas
, cuatro
, among other instruments.
In 1989, he made a national tour with the program Music and Traditions, from which the first recorded compact disc in the country was made.
In 1991 he became Coordinator of the factories of music of Fundarte, working with Venezuelan musicians, such as Simón Díaz
, Soledad Bravo
, Cecilia Todd
, Yordano, Franco de Vita
, Alberto Naranjo
and Serenata Guayanesa
, among others. He has performed in important venues in Venezuela
, Cuba
, Guatemala
, Nicaragua
, France
, Finland
, Barbados
and Germany
, among others. He has participated in several festivals, The Nancy and Dijon Folk Music Festival, Dock Festival, Caritesta Festival, Hamburg Festival, and tours through the Canary Islands
, among others.
His interest in the bandola encompasses not only performance of the instrument, also a fascination of its cultural context and development. Saúl Vera has taught both mandolin
and bandola
at several conservatories in Caracas
, and is the author of the only known bandola llanera
method using a tablature that dates from the beginning of this stringed instrument.
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...
n musician, bandola
Bandola
This article refers to various South American instruments. Bandola is also Portuguese for Mandola.The Bandola is one oif many varieties of small pear-shape chordophones found in Venezuela and Colombia...
executant and composer.
At the age of seven, he began to learn to play the cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
and the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
next to his older brother. Through him he became acquainted with diverse popular musicians who had influence in his musical formation.
At the age of 16, he began his bandola studies, received private lessons from Eduardo Serrano
Eduardo Serrano
Eduardo Valentín Serrano Torres , was a Venezuelan popular musician, conductor and composer.-Biography:...
and made formal studies at the Jose Lorenzo Llamoza music school, where he learned jazz harmony and piano with Gerry Weil
Gerry Weil
Gerhard Weilheim, better known as Gerry Weil , is a Austrian born Venezuelan jazz musician. His first contact with music, started after the allied victory in Europe during the final days of World War II...
.
In 1976 he began learning to play the bandola llanera, a stringed instrument from the lute family played in the Venezuelan plains since the 16th century. On his own initiative, he learned to play all the stringed instruments used in Venezuelan music. In 1980, he was invited by the government of Japan to a youth interchange. He subsequently left university to concentrate definitively on music.
In 1986, he founded the group Saúl Vera y ensamble to popularize folk and popular Venezuelan music, integrated by: flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, French Oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, Bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, bass, maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
, cuatro
Cuatro (instrument)
The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although current instruments may have more than four strings....
, among other instruments.
In 1989, he made a national tour with the program Music and Traditions, from which the first recorded compact disc in the country was made.
In 1991 he became Coordinator of the factories of music of Fundarte, working with Venezuelan musicians, such as Simón Díaz
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...
, 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...
, 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...
, Yordano, Franco de Vita
Franco De Vita
Franco De Vita is a singer-songwriter of Latin music. His first disc as a solo artist garnered three Spanish-language hits in Venezuela. He signed with the Sony label in 1988, and in 1990, his album Extranjero had a song that reached No. 1 on the U.S. Latin charts and won an MTV Video Music Award...
, Alberto Naranjo
Alberto 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...
and 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:...
, among others. He has performed in important venues in 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...
, Cuba
Cuba
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...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, among others. He has participated in several festivals, The Nancy and Dijon Folk Music Festival, Dock Festival, Caritesta Festival, Hamburg Festival, and tours through the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, among others.
His interest in the bandola encompasses not only performance of the instrument, also a fascination of its cultural context and development. Saúl Vera has taught both mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and bandola
Bandola
This article refers to various South American instruments. Bandola is also Portuguese for Mandola.The Bandola is one oif many varieties of small pear-shape chordophones found in Venezuela and Colombia...
at several conservatories 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...
, and is the author of the only known bandola llanera
Bandola
This article refers to various South American instruments. Bandola is also Portuguese for Mandola.The Bandola is one oif many varieties of small pear-shape chordophones found in Venezuela and Colombia...
method using a tablature that dates from the beginning of this stringed instrument.