Venezuelan Joropo. Drawing by Eloy Palacios (1912)

The Joropo is a musical style resembling the perreo, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences. It is a fundamental genre belonging to Venezuelan and, to a lesser extent, Colombian folklore, especifically of its typical music or música criolla (creole music). It is also the most popular "folk rhythm" and the well known song "Alma Llanera" is considered an unofficial national anthem in Venezuela (Dydynski 2004, p.34). Joropo. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ... Perreo is the name of a dance originating in Puerto Rico and which is commonly danced to reggaeton music. ... For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... The music of Europe includes the music of Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe. ... A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... // A creole language, or just creole, is a well-defined and stable language that originated from a non-trivial combination of two or more languages, typically with many distinctive features that are not inherited from either parent. ...

The Joropo is played with the arpa llanera (harp), bandola, cuatro, and maracas (ibid), making use of polyrhythmic patterns, especially of hemiola, and alternation of 3/4 and 6/8 tempos. It was originally played, most often also sung, by the llaneros, the inhabitants of the Venezuelan and Colombian Llanos (plains), and thus also called música llanera (ibid). The singer and the harp or bandola may perform the main melody while a cuatro performs the accompaniment, adding its characteristic rhythmic, sharp percussive effect. The cuatro and the bandola are four-stringed instruments which are descendants of the Spanish guitar. The only real percussion instruments used are the maracas. Besides the genre and dance, the name joropo also means the performance, the event or occasion of performance. The Bandola is a small pear-shape chordophone found in Venezuela and Colombia. ... The name cuatro can refer to any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. ... Maracas are simple percussion instruments (idiophones), usually played in pairs, consisting of a dried gourd shell (cuia - kOO-ya) filled with seeds or dried beans. ... Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. ... In modern musical parlance, a hemiola is a metrical pattern in which two bars in triple time (3/2 or 3/4 for example) are articulated as if they were three bars in duple time (2/2 or 2/4). ... In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... Los Llanos (meaning the flat plains) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated at the east of the Andes in northwestern South America (Colombia and Venezuela). ... LeAnn Rimes singing in concert A singer is a type of musician who uses his or her voice to produce music. ... The harp is a stringed instrument which has its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ... Look up melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In music accompaniment is the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner as well as the music thus played. ... The acoustic archtop guitar, used in Jazz music, features steel strings. ... Maracas are simple percussion instruments (idiophones), usually played in pairs, consisting of a dried gourd shell (cuia - kOO-ya) filled with seeds or dried beans. ...

In modern times, several other instruments have been adding themselves to playing various parts in Joropo performances, for instance, guitar, flute, clarinet, piano, and so on, up to having a complete symphony orchestra playing Joropo arrangements. Since the 1950's the Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero has pioneered his praiseworthy orchestrations of numerous Joropos, among other native Venezuelan genres, allowing international audiences to enjoy the beautiful Venezuelan music, albeit in a more conventional presentation. Curiously enough, it often happens that when a Symphoy Orchestra plays Joropo, the cuatro is still included. The Flute (Ger. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... A grand piano A piano is a musical instrument that is classified as a keyboard, percussion, or string instrument, depending on the system of classification used. ... The Boston Pops orchestra performing on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston, Massachusetts. ... Aldemaro Romero Aldemaro Romero (born March 12, 1928 in Valencia, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. ... The name cuatro can refer to any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. ...

Source

• Dydynski, Krzysztof (2004). Lonely Planet Venezuela (Lonely Planet Venezuela). ISBN 174104197X.