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GUEST ARTISTS
Los Llaneros (yah-NEH-ros) brings to the stage the often energetic and
sometimes haunting melodies of the Colombian/Venezuelan Llanos or plains that
surround the vast basin of the Orinoco River in South America. The Llanos
(YAH-nos) is a geographically and culturally unique and little known area of Latin
America, and its music evolved from the contact between nomadic Indians and
Jesuit settlers starting about five hundred years ago. Llaneros music is cowboy
music of the Colombian/Venezuelan "vaqueros" or cowboys (the English term
"buckeroo" comes from the Spanish word "vaquero").
Due to the distinctly characteristic syncopations and difficult harp and cuatro
techniques, Llanero music is rarely performed in its authentic style outside of the
region, and hence it remains one of Latin America’s best kept secrets. The
ensemble was founded in 1978 in Latin America but moved its base of operation
to the USA in 1996. Founding member Karin Stein (Colombian) still serves as the
ensemble's main vocalist and ensemble leader. Edgar East (Panamanian) joined
the ensemble in 1997, and Daniel Rojas (Colombian) in 2003.
MUSICIANS
Edgar East was born and raised Panama City, Panama, and began performing at a
very young age. Besides being a member of Los Llaneros, Latin duo Calle Sur, and
directing the nationally based Afro-Latin Project, Ed performs Latin jazz, salsa,
vocal jazz, and world music, as a soloist or with other ensembles. Ed has a degree
in music education and taught band for eighteen years before becoming a touring
musician.
Instruments: Vocals, maracas, Latin percussion, bass, flute, quena, gaita, caña de
millo
Daniel Rojas from Colombia, affectionately known as "Dany Harp," is one of the
young and rising stars of Llanero harp music. Aside from being a versatile
virtuoso, Daniel has launched the Harp And Folklore Foundation, an important
U.S.-based initiative aimed at enhancing the public's understanding and
appreciation for Latin folk music, in particular the harp music of Venezuela,
Colombia, and Mexico.
Instruments: Harp, cuatro, vocals, maracas, tiple, guitar, percussion
Karin Stein is a Colombian musician and composer native to the Llanos. Her
clear and powerful voice has earned her praise from many sources, and her
compositions have won prizes and been featured in a variety of movies and
documentaries. In addition to being the ensemble's lead vocalist and director, she
performs with Iowa-based Latin duo Calle Sur together with Ed East.
Instruments: Lead vocals, cuatro, guitar, tiple, quena, gaita, caña de millo, small
percussion instruments
LOS LLANOS
"Los Llanos" (los YAH-nos), meaning "The Plains," is the savanna region which
encompasses the vast watershed of the Orinoco River. It unites eastern Colombia
with the central third of Venezuela. This expansive and beautiful land is
characterized by ample, open grasslands, and slow-flowing rivers and creeks
flanked by gallery forests. The human population density in the Llanos has always
been low, primarily because of its poor soils.
The Precolumbian Indian tribes of the Llanos, which were descendants of
Caribbean cultures, led a nomadic life and subsisted by hunting, gathering, and
horticulture.
Jesuit missionaries arrived in the Llanos beginning in the Sixteenth Century,
followed by large-scale landowners and their cattle herds. Since then, the life of
the Llaneros or people of the Llanos has been closely tied to cattle ranching. Even
today, cattle ranching is an important way of life in the Llanos, threatened in some
areas by encroaching, large-scale agriculture and oil extraction.
Over the centuries, Spanish influences were adapted and transformed, and from
this process emerged a distinct Llanero culture with very similar characteristics
on both sides of the border between Colombia and Venezuela. Music continues
to play a central role in the daily lives of Llaneros, and its central themes
continue to be cattle ranching, nature, and love. Los Llanos has seen a most
interesting cultural blending which is reflected in every note and syncopation.
In terms of the European settlement that first brought cattle, horses, and the
cowboy lifestyle to South America and Mexico in the early Sixteenth Century, the
history of the Llanos region is similar to that of the better known "Pampas" or
plains of Argentina and Brazil, though the music is distinctly different.