Si Soy Llanero: Joropo Music From Orinoco

¡Cimarrón! | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 29, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B0002739TU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,124 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Joropo tradition of Eastern Colombia, which is also known as música llanera (plains music), is a local form of cowboy music. The flatlands near the Venezuelan border, watered by the Orinoco River, are prime cattle-and-horse raising territories. The ranch hands there create joyously rhythmic, string-and-percussion-based songs fashioned from African, Spanish and indigenous sources and performed on a cuatro (small, four-stringed guitar) and/or a bandola (a pear-shaped guitar), bass, maracas and a harp. During hard times, many of these people migrated to the capitol city of Bogotá where, lacking any other marketable skills, they ended up becoming professional musicians. Their songs tend to fall into one of two broad categories, the rushing, lop-sided golpe or the more lyrical pasaje, both of which are constructed over triple meters. That they can and do inspire infinite melodic invention is borne out by the florid, rough-edged yet sophisticated examples showcased on this album. --Christina Roden

Product Description

From the plains of eastern Colombia, the joropo's syncopated drive and top-of-the-lungs singing proclaim a cattle-herding mestizo people proud of their homeland. Percussive harp techniques and fast-picking bandola guitar rise upon a bedrock rhythm of cuatro guitar, bass, and maracas to produce the signature plains sound. Grupo Cimarrón, mainstay ensemble of música llanera (plains music tradition) joins other all-star musicians in energy and virtuosity of their music.

Nominated for 2004 GRAMMY®