The Venezuelan Music Project (VMP)
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The Venezuelan Music Project on stage at Yoshi's S. F. California April 17, 2011: Photo courtesy of Carolina Abolio. Venezuelan music thoroughly embodies and expresses the diverse cultures of the country. This diversity of music genres is woven into the musical fabric through African, Folkloric indigenous, Spanish and Caribbean influences. As a result, Venezuelan music is energetic, vibrant, emotional and deeply rhythmic. |
This kaleidoscopic array of musical colors was sumptuously 'set down' at Yoshi's San Francisco Jazz Club on the evening of April 17, 2011 by Jackeline Rago leading the Venezuelan Music Project.
The band is centered in the San Francisco Bay Area, and for this concert the players came from several different places: Caracas and Maracaibo Venezuela; Puerto Rico; Oakland and San Francisco. But they played as a uniquely cohesive family, committed to a singular musical purpose: Joy!
The players in the band were: Jackeline Rago (cuatro, percussion, lead vocals, musical director); Anna Maria Violich & Norma Kansau (lead vocals); Jimmy Kansau, Omar Ledezma, Lali Mejia (percussion, vocals); Hector Lugo (percussion); Donna Viscuso (flute, alto sax); Sam Bevan (bass, vocals); Fernando Lezama (keyboard, vocals).
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| The Venezuelan Music Project: Photo courtesy of Debra Zeller. |
The players in the band were: Jackeline Rago (cuatro, percussion, lead vocals, musical director); Anna Maria Violich & Norma Kansau (lead vocals); Jimmy Kansau, Omar Ledezma, Lali Mejia (percussion, vocals); Hector Lugo (percussion); Donna Viscuso (flute, alto sax); Sam Bevan (bass, vocals); Fernando Lezama (keyboard, vocals).
It was evident from the start of the program that the musicians in VMP were serious about their intent and confident about their abilities; they approached the stage as "one," and without preamble launched into a temblando parranda; a pulse-quickening, energetic style of music. The accompanying vocals and chants, which represent the main instruments that bring the message through the lyrics, blended magically with hypnotic drumming and a distinctive percussive overlay that captivated the sizable audience, spreading an aura of excited expectancy that dispelled lingering feelings of uncertainty about any 'newness' in the experience.
La Primavera, a tribute to the rites of Spring, was their next selection. This tune added an immediate, succulent morsel of enjoyment to the unfolding extravaganza: The dancers took over the floor. First, a lone dancer, a young woman, came under the spell of the beckoning drums and the melodic vocal harmonies, succumbing to the magic in the message that spread like warm, burgeoning Caribbean sunlight over a floral landscape; unseating other women, impelling them to invade the floor in an almost synchronized motion of sensuous, energetic, entertaining, spectacular dance that riveted me to my chair. And so it stayed, for the remainder of the night. It appeared, to me at least, that the music spoke in a profound, emotional voice to the distaff members of the audience, who in turn responded instantly, without inhibition, near cult-like. The absence of males from the dance floor was striking.
As the evening's show progressed, VMP dug deeper in their musical roots and produced an amazing collection of authentic musical styles; Tamboreras, Parrandas, Golpes de Tambor, Calypso del Callao. At each cultural guidepost, with the melding of vocals to the mesmerizing drumming and the exotic colorings of the indigenous instruments; Venezuelan history, ancestry, and syncretic cultures once more came alive.
La Primavera, a tribute to the rites of Spring, was their next selection. This tune added an immediate, succulent morsel of enjoyment to the unfolding extravaganza: The dancers took over the floor. First, a lone dancer, a young woman, came under the spell of the beckoning drums and the melodic vocal harmonies, succumbing to the magic in the message that spread like warm, burgeoning Caribbean sunlight over a floral landscape; unseating other women, impelling them to invade the floor in an almost synchronized motion of sensuous, energetic, entertaining, spectacular dance that riveted me to my chair. And so it stayed, for the remainder of the night. It appeared, to me at least, that the music spoke in a profound, emotional voice to the distaff members of the audience, who in turn responded instantly, without inhibition, near cult-like. The absence of males from the dance floor was striking.
As the evening's show progressed, VMP dug deeper in their musical roots and produced an amazing collection of authentic musical styles; Tamboreras, Parrandas, Golpes de Tambor, Calypso del Callao. At each cultural guidepost, with the melding of vocals to the mesmerizing drumming and the exotic colorings of the indigenous instruments; Venezuelan history, ancestry, and syncretic cultures once more came alive.
For two hours or more that VMP performed, this musically peripatetic group guided its engaged audience into the magic and mystery of: "A warm night in the town of Choroni: Cumacos, laures, maracas, sabor, all night dancing in 'El Malecon'" to visualize; "...children playing in the streets of Caracas: Cuatro, mandolin, charrasca and the marimbula." Preserving for the future, "a message of mixture: Indian, black and white, the message of integration and acceptance." (Jackeline Rago)
Fueled by the beautiful harmonies of the vocalists; Donna Viscuso's sweet flute and saxophone; the authoritative percussion served up by Lali Mejia, Hector Lugo, Omar Ledezma; the steady, sure bass support of Sam Bevan and Jackeline Rago's elegant cautro leading the way; VMP threaded its musical way through San Millan, State of Carabobo, known for the 'Sangueo y Golpe de Tambor,' into the different towns and villages of the central coast for a taste of 'Venezuelan Sangueo,' and eventually to "El Callao", State of Bolivar, where the distinctive influence of Calypso from the island of Trinidad comes wafting across the seven-mile waterway of the Gulf of Paria that separates the two countries, imbuing its unique richness of rhythm, song and dance into that of Venezuela's; cajoling Fernando Lezama's keyboard to transform itself magically into a dulcet-toned steeldrum, adding tropical flavor and cool authenticity to Jackeline Rago's very danceable arrangement of the popular 'Mighty Sparrow' Calypso: "Jane."
All along this musical panorama, enthusiasm and spiritual energy "ping-ponged" between audience and musicians, creating a circle of uncontrolled, spontaneous joy that stamped itself as the Venezuelan Music Project's intended, indelible trademark.
VMP ended this memorable concert with a climactic display of drumming and chanting of 'Sangueo and Golpe de Tambor' from the Central Coast. I can only imagine, with the players now near a state of physical exhaustion, that this sophisticated ritual was designed to allow the errant spirits of Venezuelan folkloric culture, now intoxicated and adrift among the audience, to return safely and securely to their historic resting places...at least, for now!
The impressive leader of the ensemble, Jackeline Rago, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and educator deserves much credit for the concert's success. She kept the atmosphere electric and the content and coloring of the musical palette engaging and satisfying. She was clear about the history and origins of the music and remained sensitive to the non-Spanish speakers in the audience, like myself, providing English translations to enhance the enjoyment of the excursion into this culture-rich musical domain.
Fueled by the beautiful harmonies of the vocalists; Donna Viscuso's sweet flute and saxophone; the authoritative percussion served up by Lali Mejia, Hector Lugo, Omar Ledezma; the steady, sure bass support of Sam Bevan and Jackeline Rago's elegant cautro leading the way; VMP threaded its musical way through San Millan, State of Carabobo, known for the 'Sangueo y Golpe de Tambor,' into the different towns and villages of the central coast for a taste of 'Venezuelan Sangueo,' and eventually to "El Callao", State of Bolivar, where the distinctive influence of Calypso from the island of Trinidad comes wafting across the seven-mile waterway of the Gulf of Paria that separates the two countries, imbuing its unique richness of rhythm, song and dance into that of Venezuela's; cajoling Fernando Lezama's keyboard to transform itself magically into a dulcet-toned steeldrum, adding tropical flavor and cool authenticity to Jackeline Rago's very danceable arrangement of the popular 'Mighty Sparrow' Calypso: "Jane."
All along this musical panorama, enthusiasm and spiritual energy "ping-ponged" between audience and musicians, creating a circle of uncontrolled, spontaneous joy that stamped itself as the Venezuelan Music Project's intended, indelible trademark.
VMP ended this memorable concert with a climactic display of drumming and chanting of 'Sangueo and Golpe de Tambor' from the Central Coast. I can only imagine, with the players now near a state of physical exhaustion, that this sophisticated ritual was designed to allow the errant spirits of Venezuelan folkloric culture, now intoxicated and adrift among the audience, to return safely and securely to their historic resting places...at least, for now!
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| Jackeline Rago: Photo courtesy of Debra Zeller. |
There is much more that can be said about this particular evening's performance by VMP at Yoshi's S. F. But without a doubt, it must be agreed by those who were present that: A Good Time Was Had By All!
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