Trip to Barquisimeto, Feb/09

I spent the second week of February in the venezuelan city of Barquisimeto, interviewing several important composers and trying to get more music for my book. I was able to accomplish a lot and took advantage to spend time with some friends I hadn't seen in a long time. On the way there I stopped in Maracay to visit my good friend, composer Henry Martínez.
I first contacted composer and mandolinist Ricardo Mendoza and set a time to meet so he could give me the few compositions he had actually written down on paper. The rest are played by memory. We spent the afternoon at his house where he played some of his songs for us and I took advantage to take some photos. The written music never arrived that week and I had to come back to Caracas empty handed.
I also met composer Adelis Freites (composer of the merengue "Acidito") and we spoke of his many compositions. He gave me several CDs from which I'll be transcribing soon. It was wonderful to finally meet this veteran musician of Lara. I gave him the CD I recorded with Beatriz López and he immediately played it on his radio program that was broadcast over speakers in the plaza where I was sitting after our meeting.

I then met with the hard working and knowledgeable composer Pablo Camacaro ("Patatín Patatán", "Sr JOU"). We spent three days working on his music, reviewing my transcriptions, finding new material, and he showed me the music he was working on at that moment. These were my most productive visits. Pablo is tireless and is completely passionate and meticulous about his music. He is probably the most well organized of the composers I have met. He has transcribed a good part of his music and has it on his computer. That was a great help for me.
We took advantage of the forced vacation days he had because of the coming elections and were able to spend many hours together in full musical concentration. This is very much appreciated and also quite rare here in Venezuela! He also gave me a book of the history of his group "Raices de Venezuela" with a CD that has many of the popular compositions performed by that group and also transcriptions in PDF.
Seeing that he has so many compositions and that only a handful are commonly performed, I offered to organize his music for publication and he enthusiastically agreed. Several days later we spoke again and he had decided that he should be the one to arrange his music for publication but that the idea was very necessary and really appreciated the motivation I had provided. He is now hard at work and hopefully the outcome will be a complete publication of his work.

Luis Laguna Website!

WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM
WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM
WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM

Several months ago I visited the city of Maracay to work on some music with our great composer Henry Martinez and after hours of work on my transcriptions of his music, he took me to the home of the late, great venezuelan composer Luis Laguna. The family still owns and lives in the house and we spent the evening talking about Laguna's music, the groups he played in and his life in general. I had been interested in documenting the life of this great venezuelan for some time, so this was a great honor and also a very enlightening encounter!

I went back for a second visit several weeks later, having purchased the web address with his name, and taught myself how to design a website, armed with my laptop, scanner and notebook, with my lovely assistant Cyntia Irady, we interviewed, scanned old photos and other documents, and took photos. But mostly we enjoyed the warm hospitality of Ms. Margarita (Laguna's widow) and his son Luis Jr. Wonderful people living in a house full of memories and wonderful musical energy!

WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM
WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM
WWW.LUISLAGUNA.COM

Capacho ~ Pablo Montoya

On April 1st I went to the small city of Capacho (in Táchira state) for four days to visit the composer Pablo Montoya. I had been in Capacho several months ago playing a concert with Cecilia Todd and I met some local musicians who played one of his pieces. I asked who the composer was and they told me about Mr. Montoya. He's 73 years old and has been playing mandolin, violin and guitar for all of his adult life. Along the way he has invented his own songs in the traditional styles (mostly waltzes, venezuelan merengue, bambuco, paso doble, and porro). He is known to have almost 70 compositions, but told me he could only remember some 25 or so. Since he does not write them down, all depends on his memory or that of his friends and family who play his music. This is why I quickly went back to Capacho... The idea of this music being lost is horrible. He and two of his sons and a friend were kind enough to sit through a long recording session and try to remember as many pieces as possible. After several hours we managed to record a list of 40 songs! That's where the well ran dry. I left them in charge of remembering the other 30 songs for the next time I go. Meanwhile I have a lot to transcribe!

Barquisimeto ~ Ricardo Mendoza

On a trip to Barquisimeto for a concert with Cecilia Todd, I was invited to meet composer and mandolinist Ricardo Mendoza. He is the composer of the much performed waltz entitled "Lagunillas" among many others. We met at a musical reunion and he played with my friend Chuito (Jesús Rengel) while I took some photos and then I played along with my soprano sax. I spoke to him about my book of transcriptions and he invited me to come back to Barquisimeto to show me the rest of his compositions. I'll probably be visiting him in May.

With Aldemaro Romero

In May, 2005 I played for Aldemaro with Cheo Hurtado and other friends and we all had a lively discussion about the time signature in venezuelan merengue. It is performed regularly in 5/8, but over the years there have been many different interpretations of this style. For many years it has been written simply in 2/4, but the actual sound is seldom so square. I've heard many different interpretations, from strict 5/8 to 6/8, and everything in between.
It was a memorable day!

Otilio Galíndez

Last Saturday I went to a concert by the great venezuelan composer and performer Otilio Galíndez. He is in his seventies and is responsible for a large sample of the repertoire of venezuelan folk music. Many of the best known songs are his compositions. Otilio doesn't consider himself a real performer but people love to see him on stage. He is a living historical figure!
At the concert I was able to get past security and even get up on stage to take these photos.

Musical evenings...

I went to see my friend Jorge Glem's trio on Friday and after the concert we went to a friend's house to meet other musicians (bassists Rodner Padilla and David Carpio, clarinetist Cheché Requena) and composer and mandolinist Mao Fermín who lives in Madrid was there too. I've been meaning to transcribe several of his compositions that I've heard on CD so it was great to meet him and tell him about the book of transcriptions I'm working on. He was enthusiastic about the idea and promised to email me some of his compositions to add to the book. This saves me some transcription time!
On both evenings dawn came as we were wrapping up a long night of good music and some very interesting conversations.

In Paris and Vienna, July 2005

I just found these photos of some performances I did a couple of years ago at the Vienna Jazz Festival with singer and cuatro player Marta Topferova. We also played in Paris at the New Morning jazz club.
:-)

Cumaná, June '07

After our concert with Cecilia Todd in Cumaná (in June) we shared some wonderful moments with the great joropo singer María Rodriguez. After the concert Chuito and I went to a friend's house where two great cuatro players were going to play. Alfonzo Moreno and Jorge Glem, both from Cumaná. Toward the end, Jorge played a 10 minute solo that left me speechless. One of the most impressive musical moments I have ever witnessed. Here are some photos of that day.

Trip to Cumaná postponed...

With all the trouble the government has made for itself by closing the largest and oldest TV station here in Venezuela we have had to postpone the trip to Cumaná that I wrote about previously. We also can't get in touch with Morocho Fuentes to verify that he was still expecting us, so I'm stuck in Caracas this weekend. Not all bad though, because I just got a couple of calls to play bass and I need to get my bass chops back in shape and figure out the new music. Three concerts with the singer Cecilia Todd and a concert with my friend Alfredo Naranjo. Right after that I go back to NY for several months to teach. Funny though, one of Cecilia's concerts is in Cumaná!

transcriptions

I've been working on some new transcriptions for the book and I've found several books that have given me ideas of tunes to include. I've also met some musicians that have new music that is appropriate. Pianist Gonzalo Grau added a merengue of his that I like a lot, and Alfonzo Moreno has a waltz, and even Nene Quintero has a tune he wants to show me.
I just finished creating a database in Filemaker to organize all the transcriptions. This is very helpful to see what I already have and what I still need to work on.
The response to this idea of putting all these tunes in one book has been overwhelmingly positive and it gives me the motivation to continue.

Musicians from Cumaná

A couple of days ago I met Remigio "Morocho" Fuentes and Alfonzo Moreno from Cumaná. Morocho is a phenomenal mandolin player and alfonzo a superb cuatro player. They live in Sucre state and they reflect the musical styles of their region. I had the chance to hear them play at an intimate gathering at a friend's house, accompanied by David Peña on bass. Morocho specializes in what we call eastern style joropos. These often mix both rhythmic styles of joropo, the 3/4 and the 6/8, changing seamlessly between them. He is a very talented composer too. I recorded a song of his entitled "El Cumanés" on Beatriz López' CD, but at the time no one knew who the composer was so we labeled it anonymous. Since Morocho lives way out in the "country" as it were, communication is difficult and establishing authorship is often a matter of hearsay. On the next edition of Beatriz' CD I will make sure to correct that mistake. Morocho is an expert and fluid improvisor and seems to have an endless array of melodies in his mind. He gave me his new CD on which he plays 12 of his own compositions. I'll be working on writing these out soon.
Alfonzo Moreno is the current reference when it comes to the eastern style of cuatro playing. This style is reflected in the right hand movements and rhythms as he strums the strings. This is something I cannot describe with words. You must see him do it to understand. It is so rhythmically sophisticated and loose that it is quite impossible to grasp without many years of observation and study. He tells me he started to play the cuatro as a child and he only figured it out in his late twenties.
Morocho has made an invitation to visit him early in June for a celebration that the town now has electricity! Imagine how remote it is and how unpolluted by modernity. He promised that many of the great eastern musicians will be there including the legendary María Rodriguez. I've already made travel plans and packed my portable recorder, camera, and my sax.
:-)

La Siembra del Cuatro

La Siembra del Cuatro is a competition for cuatro players here in Venezuela
and it literally means "The Sowing of the Cuatro". Like planting the seads for future harvests. And that's exactly the result of Cheo Hurtado's project. Cheo is the greatest and certainly most influential cuatro player ever. He organized this competition to stimulate his students and bring musicians together who otherwise would not know each other. There have been cuatro players from all over Venezuela and even Colombia. There is a lot of respect and good vibes between all of them and the ground is very fertile for cross pollenization of styles and techniques. I attended the showcase concert for the cuatro players involved in the previous competitions and was amazed at the level of playing. It was so good that I followed them to Valencia (3 hours away from Caracas) for the evening concert.
Congratulations to Cheo (and the other members of Ensamble Gurrufío who generously accompanied the cuatro players) for a fantastic idea! It is exactly what we need in Venezuela right now to promote the local culture and give support to the upcoming talent.

Still...

I had imagined that by April I would be moving along with the transcriptions and rehearsals of my music. But no... My mom stayed for two months in the USA and I've been busy taking care of my dad and making improvements on the house. Last week I contacted a couple of people who have information I can use for the book, and pretty soon I will start to get together with some friends to try out the new music.
:-)

update...

So, I've been here in Caracas for almost two weeks now and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out where to begin with all the things I want to do! I sent my mom on vacation for a month and a half so I'm taking care of my dad on my own. In other words I can't get out much. But slowly I'm going to try to get started with the transcriptions and get a practice schedule happening.
I've gone to a couple of nice concerts recently. I heard C4 trio and today Alberto José Requena had a concert promoting his new CD. It's so nice to be able to go out and hear the interesting things people are doing with venezuelan music and meet new musicians. I need to get a band of my own! I have enough original music for two cds and I can't wait to try it out!