Smithsonian Folkways Will Release 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!: Maestros del Joropo Oriental'

New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) - On June 30th Smithsonian Folkways will release 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!: Maestros del Joropo Oriental,' an exciting collection of joropo music, Venezuela's traditional version of the waltz. 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!' boasts more than a dozen prominent instrumentalists, including Alberto Valderrama Patin~o, Remigio Fuentes and Jesus Rengel Mo'nico Ma'rquez, performing lively interpretations of Venezuela's national folk music. The recording is part of the "Tradiciones/Traditions" series. https://smithsonianfolkways.org/find_recordings/Latino.aspx

Maestros del Joropo Oriental are performing at the 2009 Smithsonian Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Visit https://www.festival.si.edu/2009/las_americas/index.aspx for more information on the Festival and the Las Ame'ricas: Un Mundo Musical program.

With detailed liner and song notes, 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!' reveals how Venezuela's diverse physical, cultural and historical landscape influenced and helped nourish the joropo styles popular today. The four principal styles are the joropo llanero, from the Colombo-Venezuelan plains; the joropo tuyero, of central Venezuela near Caracas; the joropo guayane's, from around the city of Guayana; and the joropo oriental, which is centered in the eastern city of Cumana' and considered the most significant musical expression of the eastern region. Each joropo style features elements of spontaneity and improvisation that make the music a pleasure to dance to.

During the 1950s, sweeping cultural changes, including the introduction of electronic media, led to the politicization of the various regional joropo styles. As a consequence, many of these styles were marginalized or forgotten until Jose Antonio Abreu created the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in the 1970s. Abreu's mission was to expose underprivileged youth to traditional Venezuelan folk music, to promote musical innovation and to reinvigorate interest in Venezuela's rich musical history. This movement towards preservation led to a greater national awareness, new stylistic techniques and more refined versions of the joropo. Abreu's achievement was later bolstered by the Venezuelan constitution of 1999 that asserted the importance of Venezuelan cultural values.

Many of the phenomenal artists featured on 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!' are self-taught master musicians who have perfected the improvisational quality of joropo. Some of the instruments heard on 'Y Que Viva Venezuela!' are the cuatro (a small guitar), maracas, drums, bass, button accordion, African drums, violin, harmonica, harp and more.