Tamunangue: Songs and Rhythms of Venezuela

An hour-long showcase by Golperos del Oeste, one of Venezuela’s preeminent proponents of tamunangue folk music from the northwestern state of Lara, accompanied by two master Venezuelan artists based in New York: llanera singer and bandola player Mafer Bandola and percussionist Willie Quintana. A Q&A with the musicians follows the performance.

Said to be over 400 years old, tamunangue is a folk dance and musical genre that takes its name from the drum used to perform its characteristic beat. It is deeply associated with the feast of San Antonio de Padua, during which two dancers face each other with sticks in symbolic combat.

Golperos del Oeste was founded on July 13, 1978, in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Not only an ensemble but a multi-generational family, the group has been presenting and preserving tamunangue music, dance, and ritual for over 45 years. They are part of the Unión Cultural de los Barrios and were a founding force in the San Antonio movement of Barquisimeto. Countless musicians and dancers have grown up within its ranks, many of whom continue contributing to Venezuela’s cultural life at home and abroad. Named after the western area of the city where the group was formed, it is now directed by Alberto Mendoza.

Mafer Bandola is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost performers of the bandola llanera, a traditional four-string instrument from the Venezuelan plains. Venezuelan-born and Brooklyn-based, she is a versatile instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and community organizer who founded the popular Pipiris Nights festival.

Willie Quintana is a renowned percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, and community organizer. As director of Tambor y Caña, New York’s preeminent Afro-Venezuelan tambor group, he presents and preserves tambor music, dance, and ritual within the growing Venezuelan community in New York City and for new audiences across the country.

Mafer Bandola and Willie Quintana are key partners of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s Venezuelan Sustaining Cultures Initiative, of which this concert is a part.