Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Summary of Venezuela


Image result for venezuela
Venezuela was a paradise before Venezuela in 1498. Indian people used to live in this land where has beaches, tropical forests, and grassland. After 1498, Christopher Columbus was the first European to be able to visit Venezuela. During that time, he was on his third voyage in looking for New World. Soon after that, many other explorers were coming to Venezuela. That when Alonso de Ojeda land onto the New Land, he was the one to name the land Venezuela. In 1499, Spanish settled in Venezuela. Since Venezuela did not produce the minerals back in time, Spain was focusing on other parts of South America to conquer. Simon Bolivar played an important role in Venezuela. He led the military and freed Venezuela as well as other South American countries from Spanish conquest.  
Image result for venezuela


Most of Venezuelan have European, Indian, and African ancestors. The dominant religion is Roman Catholic. Venezuela has at least 31 indigenous languages and most of them speak Spanish as a second language. They also use body language and a lot of unique sign languages. In terms of the culture, Venezuela maintains the culture through the arts such as music, literature. Especially salsa is considered to be Venezuelan leading culture. Venezuela is one of the most urbanized countries of Latin America, specially Caracas. This country is well known for having vast amount of natural resources such as oil. In it’s current state, Venezuela is dealing with major economic issues that has caused big inflations and led to an increase in poverty.



Sources:
http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Venezuela.html
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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Primary Composer


Composer : Antonio Lauro



Biography:
    Antonio Lauro was a son Italian immigrants Armida Cutroneo and Antonio Lauro Ventura. He was born in 1917 in Ciudad Bolivar in Venezuela. His father was a guitarist, who first introduced him to the music life. When he was born, his father composed and named a song after him. He named it “Mi progenito”, which means my child in english. His early childhood was normal until his father passed away and he was forced to move to Caracas in 1926 to his maternal grandparents. His grandfather is the first individual who guides Antonio to learn how to play the piano. In Caracas, Antonio had was exposed to many opportunities for him to grow in the music career. Some of the institution present were  Centro Musical en 1915, La Union Filarmonica  in 1922,  el Orfeon Lamas and la Orquesta Sinfornica de Venezuela.
    It was in 1932, where he was influenced tremendously by a  Paraguayan artist Raul Borges. He not only had a great impact in Antonio, but many other young artist in this period o time. In 1935, he eventually got a group together to form “ Los Cantores del Tropico”. This was a start to cuarteto, which eventually became a trio, which allowed them to live off the music career. Eventually this trio separates and Antonio is recruited by Vincente Emilio Sojo to  finish his studies as classical music compositor. In 1947, he graduates and becomes a compositor and starts to composes different songs. He particularly writes and focus on Western classical traditional music. He graduates  with a titles of a soloists, chorus and orchestra and piece named cantaclaro.
    Antonio begins to grow more as a guitarist, specially focusing on Venezuelan waltz. Eventually he creates great music that spreads all over the world.  During the 50’s Venezuela failed to establish a democracy and there was civil war. Antonio, took side to against the dictatorship and eventually got captured. He was imprisoned for going against the dictatorship of Marcos Peres Jimenez. In prison, Antonio wrote two of his major work of music. He composed la Sonata para guitarra and the famous Suite Venezolana. After being liberated from prison, he focused on his guitar career. He work under different musical educational institutions as a teacher. Eventually years after being released, Lauro successfully establishes an institution with other colleagues that focus on Folk Venezuelan Music.
    On his last year Antonio had a great success performing. He toured all over Europe eventually receiving the title of Hijo Ilustre de Ciudad Bolivar. He eventually also won the Premio Nacional de Musica en 1985 for his contribution in cultural music to Venezuela. This lead for him and his work to be known all over the world. . Lauro’s Valses Venezolanos were originally composed as a solo guitar pieces and were all named the first piece after his niece, Tatiana, and the second one after his sister Andreina. The last piece was named after a town he loved.
    Lauro was the first individual to perform major work with the guitar in Venezuela. He was the artists who introduced the guitar as significant instrument in his decade and the decades to come. His pupils became great musical performers who included Raul Borges, Rodrigo Riera, Jose Rafael,an Alirio Diaz. HIs pupils not only represented his musical work, but also expanded his name and his work in the music world. His musical career eventually became so popular  that Andres Segovia and John Williams became interested about him. At one point he became the official guitarist of Caracas Broadcasting,  which also included a radio program.



Discography: Antonio Lauro de Valses, Concerto, sonata Suite Venezolano and Suite and Homenaje a John Duarte.






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Composers of Venezuela


Composer: Jose Angel Montero


Biography: 1839-1881. He was from Venezuela. He was an opera composer, singer, flutist and educator. His family was also musicians. Thus his father was able to give his son a lesson. However other than his father, he did not have any formal lesson, so he studies such as modern European music and composition by himself. He proposed Venezuelan minister an idea of a national musical institute to educate musicians. Most of his works were religious.


Discography: zarzuela which is a Spanish word meaning a form of musical theatre which the dramatic action is carried through a combination of song and speech, Colegiales son colegiales, El charlatan mudo, Diomira and Virginia



Art/Media Sources:
http://pianovenezolano.blogspot.jp/2014/04/partituras-para-piano-de-musica_5486.html


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Composer:Teresa Carreno


Biography: 1853-1917.  She was from Venezuela. She became a pianist, composer, conductor and singer. Since her family was a musical family, they gave their daughter a lesson when she was still young and she started composing short piano pieces. She went to New York with her family when she was eight years old and gave her first performance and then studied in Paris and Germany where she succeeded. She married Emile Sauret who was a violinist and they played together.


Discography:She wrote a String Quartet in B minor.



Art/Media:
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/teresa-carreno-317.php


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Composer: Afonso Tenreiro


Biography: 1965 to present. He is from Venezuela and a composer of Classical New Music. He has been trained for composition, choral conducting, and organ in Indiana University. His works have been awarded by the American Society of Composers and Publishers. He is currently living in Utah with his wife and son. His music have been influenced by his family as well as friends, and international elements.


Discography: His work called Guri was recorded in the CD Venezuelan Classic of the 20th Century, Meditation which he went to Czech Republic for recording.





Art/Media:

  • http://www.atenreiro.com/
Source:





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Composer: Alberto Grau
Biography: 1938-current. He was originally born in Spain. He is a contemporary Venezuelan choral composer, and conductor. He was trained as a pianist. Moreover he studied conducting and composition. His works display the distinct characteristics which exhibits international influences, literature, and social and environmental events which includes the culture. He has influenced the development of choral music in Venezuela with his wife and the orchestra. He has composed original works while he has also arranged traditional melodies.
Discography: Salve al celeste so sonoro, for chorus




Art/Media:
  • http://alberto.fundacionscholacantorum.org.ve/

Source: 








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Composer:Cayetano Carreno
Biography: 1774-1836. He was Venezuelan composer, organist. He was an organist at the Caracas cathedral and he continued to be an organist at the cathedral during his entire life. His music were influenced by the European Classical which is composed of orchestral elements and homophonic style.
Discography:Pesame a la virgen which was a sacred piece with a Spanish elements. Masses, motets which is a Latin religious vocal composition are his works that survived.
Art/Media:
  • http://www.venezuelatuya.com/biografias/cayetano_carreno.htm

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Composer: Vicente Emilio Sojo

Biography: Venezuelan composer and conductor. In 1921, he was positioned as professor of theory at the Ecuela Nacional de Musica. His music aim to influence impressionism, which became rooted in the Venezuelan folklore music. In 1958 he became a senator of the state of miranda. He collected several pieces of Venezuelan traditional music and dances. He wrote several masses, motets, and a requiem mass, all of which were performed
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Discography: Masses, motets and Requiem mass





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Composer: Simon Diaz



Biography: 1928-2014. Simon Diaz is a Grammy Award-winning composer of Venezuelan music, and he was also a singer. He was very influential to many other artists such as a German choreographer Pina Bausch who use some of the song for his work call “Nur Du”.  Diaz is known for his recovery of the songs of the Venezuelan plains. He believes that these were unique music and so he devoted himself in studying, composing, and disseminating them. He soon became famous on motion pictures, TV shows, and theaters. He was in leading roles for 3 plays and 5 films. He was able to produce and host about 12 different remarkable TV shows. Those TV shows were to promote Venezuelan music. He got to represent his country, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Iraq, the United States, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia. His compositions have been performed by many artist such as  Plácido Domingo, Ray Conniff, Julio Iglesias, Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Gilberto Santarrosa, and Gipsy Kings. Overall, we can see that Simon Diaz is one of the most popular and universal artists in Latin America. He is someone who is proud of where he came from and was able to share his music all over the world.


Discography:  In 1963, he recorded his first record call Long Play.




Art/Media:
  • http://www.simondiaz.com/english.html#
Source: Simon Biography Website,
  • http://www.simondiaz.com/english.html
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Composer: Ignacio Figueredo

Biography: 1899-1995. Ignacio Figueredo was a Venezuelan folk musician. At the age 11 years old, he got his first appearance in San Juan de Payara. Then around 1914 people were able to hear his first compositions, and this became one of the genres of Venezulean jorop, this name was made at a party, which was held at Antonio Laya home. At 1935 he married Mercedes Castillos, where he have 11 children. Then in 1947, Freddy Reyna, Reinaldo Espinoza Hernandez and Antonio Estevez met him at a presentation at Achaguas. They were amazed and took him to Caracas where played his harp and captivated the audiences. That was when people called him “Indio Figueredo.”  Around the 1950s, he made many presentations in different nationals setting and radios. He also taught his art to many other musicians in a music academy in Caracas. After all of that compose many music, and had his son be part of it. Ignacio, was a well respected man, and was recognized by the public in Venezuela and nationally.
Discography:  His album he recorded in the 1980 call “Hijo del llano apureno”


Art/Media:
  • http://www.venezuelatuya.com/biografias/indio_figueredo.htm
Source:
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Composer: Victor Varela
Biography: 1955- 2015 Victor Varela a Venezuelan-Swedish composer that is based in Gothenburg. His compositions are a mix of orchestra, vocal, instrumental chamber music, with electronics and computer devices. Varela was born in Caracas, and that is where he studied his music at National Conservatory of Music Juan Jose Landaeta. That was where he got his degree in composition in 1987. After obtaining that degree he was able to further his studies in Conservatorium van Amsterdam and electronic music at the school of Royal Conservatory of The Hague. While in Conservatorium van Amsterdam he obtains an composition prize in 1993. He was able toe preformed in many festivals and events in major cities, one of them are ISCM World Music Days, plus may more like it. In Venezuela he was able to get the National Composition Award and in Caracas City he got he Municipal Award. Having these experiences he was able to teach and share his wisdom at National Conservatory of Music J.J. Landaeta and at IUDEM, both at Caracas.
Discography:  In 1996 his Second String Quartet was picked to represent his home Venezuela at the ISCM Festival in Copenhagen.



Art/Media: 
  • http://www.el-nacional.com/escenas/Victor-Valera-Jesus-CastilloEl-Nacional_NACIMA20130305_0582_6.jpg
Source:
  • http://www.el-nacional.com/escenas/Murio-plastico-venezolano-Victor-Valera_0_148187295.html
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Composer:  Reynaldo Armas Enguaima

Biography: 1953-2015. Reynaldo Armas Enguaima is a singer and songwriter of the folk music of plains of Venezuela called joropo. He received a Grammy in 2013 for his album The Golden Horse.  At the age of 16, he enters many competitions and was able to win some prizes. After that he would work at a nightclub in Caracas that was dedicated to folk music.  Around 1975, he was able to get his first record deal with a company call DIVESA. His first album with them was called “I want to sing”, with having many attentions to his first album, he was able to write over 400 songs and recorded 29 albums. He is a very recognized, singer and one of the outstanding singers for traditional music.
Discography:  “I want to sing”, was the first album he made.

Art/Media:

  • http://www.coveralia.com/fotos/reynaldo-armas50204.php
Source:

  • http://reynaldoarmas.net/biografia/










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