Caracas Chronicles

“He made a trip, from Cumaná, which is where I am from, to Barquisimeto, which is Gustavo Dudamel’s city. Many people who traveled around Venezuela remember beautiful trips like this where you could learn about the distinct cultures and places.” The journey that the award-winning cuatro player Jorge Glem explained to Caracas Chronicles is not an ordinary road trip. Instead, it’s the outline of Odisea: Concierto para cuatro y orquesta, a classical concerto with a cuatro soloist written by caraqueño pianist and composer Gonzalo Grau, and premiered last year in the Hollywood Bowl by the LA Phil under the conduction of Gustavo Dudamel and with Glem on the cuatro, a traditional four stringed guitar-like instrument. 

The duo performed the piece again late last month at the Edinburgh International Festival, this time with the Caracas-based Simón Bolívar Symphony. This piece, which includes a combination of malagueñas, Afro-Venezuelan “tambores,” golpe larense, and Caracas merengue is a relatively new addition to a growing phenomenon. Venezuelan classical music is on a journey, but instead of the road trip inside of Venezuela portrayed in Odisea, it’s traveling around the world and, as the Venezuelan diaspora grows, it’s starting to get more recognition. 

Rescuing the Legends

While most of the news around Venezuelan classical music surrounds the important contributions of El Sistema to the field of musical education and some of the amazing performers and conductors it has produced, Venezuela also has been home to a wide array of composers with significant contributions. All the way back to the 19th century, Teresa Carreño made waves not only as a remarkable concert pianist but also as a composer who included references to Venezuelan rhythms in her work. In the middle of her more academic pieces, you can find rhythmic contrast between ternary and binary beats and a wide array of syncopations. She even wrote a few merengues. 

Slowly, as ensembles and performers from El Sistema, who often included these pieces in their concerts, started to gain prominence on the world stage, these compositions started to get more attention. 

As the 20th century unfolded, and the idea of Venezuelan national identity became more solidified, the influences of Venezuelan culture in classical music became even more direct. Venezuelan composers were able to craft compositions that explored the changing tonal language of the middle of the 20th century while including elements of Venezuelan folklore and identity. Cantata Criolla by Antonio Estévez, for instance, infuses the famous contrapunteo between Florentino and the Devil at the center of Alberto Arvelo’s poem with operatic flair. The symphonic poem Margariteña by Inocente Carreño pays homage to the island of Margarita with the inclusion of many of its traditional dances. Evencio Castellanos also includes traditional dances in his symphonic suite Santa Cruz de Pacairigua. It’s all quite beautiful music and just the tip of an iceberg that includes Aldemaro Romero, Blanca Estrella de Mescoli, and Modesta Bor. However, despite a few exceptions like Antonio Lauro, whose guitar compositions are famous in the standard repertoire for classical guitar players, this music was only popular at home. 

Slowly, as ensembles and performers from El Sistema, who often included these pieces in their concerts, started to gain prominence on the world stage, these compositions started to get more attention. 

Now, as the diaspora increases because of mass migrations and the country’s prolonged political and economic crisis, these pieces have started to be played all over the world. People simply travel with their music. According to Jorge Glem, “Venezuelan music has a distinct personality and it hadn’t had the possibility or the need to leave Venezuela, but now that it has, it’s becoming well-known”. Glem, who was just nominated for Best Instrumental Album at the Latin Grammys with Brooklyn-Cumaná, his musical project with the American accordionist Sam Reider, also mentioned that his recent performance of Odisea received a very positive reaction by Edinburgh’s mostly international audience: “There was a beautiful ovation. I had to go back onstage four times before playing an encore, and then a few more after. This means people really liked it.”

The Cuatro as Spearhead

From a historical point of view, it makes sense that a piece like Odisea works. The cuatro is full of rich rhythmic and harmonic potential. In fact, the Venezuelan composer and trumpet player Pacho Flores explained that this was because the instrument was adapted to play harpsichord parts during the early Venezuela colonial history. It was a harmonic backbone and its versatility and overall general structure has endured over time. As Flores said to Caracas Chronicles: “It works when you mix it with Scottish music, with flamenco, jazz. This adds to Venezuelan music as a whole. The instrument fits very well in any music scene. If the cuatro has that potential, imagine the trumpet”.

Pacho himself sought the answers to that question. He wrote Cantos y Revueltas, a fantasia concertante for trumpet and cuatro that combines tonadas, beautiful monodic songs common in rural Venezuela, with revueltas, a form of joropo that, because of the genre’s Spanish lineage, easily fits into the structure of a baroque fugue and, therefore, the orchestral setting. 

For Flores, who recently received three nominations to the Latin Grammys, including Best Classical Music Album for his latest album Estirpe, it also has a personal element: “This piece is dedicated to my father. He was a trumpet player and an accountant. He died in 2006. I think it’s a bit of the story of my life. Because with this type of music, especially at the beginning of the piece, are work songs. And it reminds me of everything I heard with him”. He has played this piece on stages in Spain, Mexico, Canada, and France (all with very positive audience receptions) and is planning on continuing performing it: “It’s my contribution to position Venezuelan music abroad. I’m making use of my resources. I wouldn’t know what to do playing with a World Music ensemble, for example. But, bringing a cuatro player and a maraquero to great orchestras around the world is something that is natural and that I’m glad to do”. He plans to soon play it in Argentina, Germany, and several other countries. 

Pacho Flores is one of many Venezuelan composers who have continued to make a mark abroad, including Efarín Amaya, Federico Ruiz, and Paul Desenne, who died earlier this year in Boston. This is happening at every level, especially in Sistema-inspired programs where many Venezuelan musicians are teaching. 

The Boston Strings Academy, for instance, premiered in 2022 a piece by Paul Desenne titled La Petite Bande à Schubert which works as a small concerto mixed with variations on a theme taken from Schubert’s Trio Op. 100 that has been re-interpreted with Desenne’s charming dissonant harmonies and some clear Venezuelan influences. Desenne was quite involved in the preparation for the premier Mariesther Álvarez, a founder and co-director of the Boston String Academy, mentioned: “The piece was composed for the Boston String Academy. It’s highly complicated in a rhythmical sense, even more so for high school kids! We had the joy of working with Paul in the rehearsals and he helped us a lot to understand the piece”.  

Pacho Flores is one of many Venezuelan composers who have continued to make a mark abroad, including Efarín Amaya, Federico Ruiz, and Paul Desenne, who died earlier this year in Boston. This is happening at every level, especially in Sistema-inspired programs where many Venezuelan musicians are teaching. 

In Chicago, Nelson Mendoza, a member of the Civic Fellowship program by the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony organized a chamber recital this past June titled Sounds of Venezuela. The program featured pieces by Aldemaro Romero, Efraín Amaya, and Heraclio Hernández and was performed in collaboration with musicians from Venezuela, Latvia and the U.S. Mendoza mentioned that this was an excellent opportunity for cultural exchanges: “Preparing the recital was a nurturing experience. As Venezuelans, we connected with our roots and enjoyed sharing our music and culture with non-Venezuelan musicians who were delighted to learn”. The recital was very well attended. “The stage crew had to add more chairs because people kept arriving”. 

What made it special was that the program was built around building awareness of the crisis in Venezuela. Thousands of Venezuelan migrants have arrived in Chicago after being sent there by the Texas State Government, so, in the hopes to introduce more people to the context of Venezuela, the program included explanations about the crisis, key headlines and resources so that people could help migrants and asylum-seekers. 

At the end of the day, it might seem obvious. Venezuelan culture expands around the world as more Venezuelans are present, but there’s something uniquely special about Venezuelan music being performed and welcomed by audiences around the world. Maybe they recognize and see themselves in some elements of the patchwork of influences that live within our music, or just resonate with its dynamic personality. Nevertheless, the fact that it can help as a bridge between cultures and as a mechanism to foster understanding and support gives hope of a brighter future as it continues on its journey around different parts of the world.