Y Que Viva Venezuela! Maestros del Joropo Oriental CD

"Music that has roots, that has identity, has a powerful strength," says musician-producer Aquiles Báez about the joropo oriental of eastern Venezuela. Amid the anonymous global musical mix, masters of this string-driven, highly improvised, local music spin out endless threads of artful melody woven into a rich rhythmic fabric. This all-star group of Venezuelan masters applies a rainbow of sounds - guitars unique to the region, button accordion, violin, maracas, bass, and drums—to paint a panorama of a rediscovered, powerful musical tradition on the ascendance. 55 minutes, 14 tracks, 44-page booklet with extensive bilingual notes and photographs.

Maestros del Joropo Oriental are participants at the 2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, performing on the National Mall in Washington D.C. as part the Las Américas: Un Mundo Musical program.

This album is part of the Smithsonian Folkways Tradiciones/Traditions series of Latino music, produced with support by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Tracks
1. El canario (The Canary) joropo con estribillo - Remigio Fuentes - 3:49
2. El amanecer (The Sunrise) joropo con estribillo - Mónico Márquez - 3:52
3. La media diana - golpe oriental con estribillo - Jesús Rengel, Luis Márquez - 2:38
4. Las tres notas (The Three Notes) joropo con estribillo - Remigio Fuentes - 4:32
5. Carúpano y Río Caribe - golpe oriental - Alberto Valderrama - 3:20
6. Visión cumanesa (Vision of Cumaná) joropo oriental - Jesús Rengel - 3:25
7. Guacharaca - joropo con estribillo - Remigio Fuentes, Hernán Marín - 4:33
8. El violinista oriental (The Eastern Violinist) joropo con estribillo - Eddy Marcano - 3:34
9. Pa' oriente, compay (To the East, Compadre) joropo oriental - Alberto Valderrama - 3:17
10. Juan Jiménez - joropo con estribillo cotorreao - Mónico Márquez - 4:39
11. Joropo Cruz Acuña - joropo con estribillo - Jesús “Chuito” Rengel - 4:36
12. Un Tal Bracho, ¿Sanjuanero? (A Fellow Named Bracho, from San Juan?) joropo oriental - Alberto Valderrama - 3:58
13. La reina y el rey (The Queen and the King) joropo oriental - Jesús Rengel - 5:41
14. Golpe de arpa y estribillo - Remigio Fuentes, Hernán Marín, Luis Márquez - 3:25