Venezuela: Music of the Orinoco

Description

Cheo Hurtado, virtuoso of the cuatro and the bandola guayanesa, presents part of the vast traditional Venezuelan repertoire primarily derived from pre-Baroque and Baroque Hispanic music: melodic richness and rhythmic vigor.The Spanish conquest penetrated Venezuela very early, where Christopher Columbus approached near the Orinoco delta on his third voyage in 1498. Close to Santo Domingo and Cuba, through which most exchanges with the mother country passed, Venezuela received many musical contributions from Baroque Europe.In addition to learned ecclesiastical and secular music, it was also the popular Spanish forms that became established across the entire continent, and it can be thought that these musics had already received African and American contributions in Spain itself. Over the centuries, they transformed into traditional music.Cheo Hurtado learned the cuatro from his father and performed very early as a soloist, winning several prizes. He also plays the bandola llanera, the mandolin, and the Cuban tres, and has joined various groups including "Gurufio," one of the best known in Venezuela.