joropo

The joropo, or Música Llanera, is a musical style resembling the fandango, and an accompanying dance. It originated in the Llanos of Colombia and Venezuela 300 years ago and it has African, European and Native South American influences. There are different joropo variants: tuyero, oriental, and llanero. It is a fundamental genre of Venezuelan música criolla. It is also the most popular "folk rhythm": the well-known song "Alma Llanera" is a joropo by Pedro Elias Gutierrez, considered the unofficial national anthem of Venezuela. Also, the song “Ay Mi Llanura” by Arnulfo Briceño is considered the most representative of Colombia. In 1882 it became Venezuela's national dance and music. Formerly, the Spanish word joropo meant "a party", but now it has come to mean a type of music and dance that identifies Venezuelans. In the 18th century, the llaneros started using the word joropo instead of fandango, which was used at the time for party and dance. In 2025, UNESCO inscribed Venezuelan joropo on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ²

Central joropo (Spanish: joropo central) is also known as tuyero ("Tuyan"), joropo tuyero ("Tuyan joropo") or golpe tuyero ("Tuyan beat"). Characteristic of the central states of Venezuela, like Aragua and Miranda, eastern Carabobo and northern Guárico, central joropo, or tuyero (as practiced in the Valles del Tuy along the Tuy River) is sung accompanied by harp (arpa tuyera, sometimes replaced by guitar) and maracas. Unlike the nylon strings of the llanera harp, the central joropo harp also uses metal strings, which gave its unique sound. The central joropo singer also plays the maracas and dances, requiring just two performers: the harpist, and the singer-maraquero. Joropo harpists prefer the name "arpisto" rather than arpista, the usual Spanish word for "harpist". The central joropo him the same considerations are applied around the passage and hit burrowing joropo, except speed, which is slightly lower. Another important distinction is that the central joropo revuelta consists of a chain of musical sections of fixed forms, in the same tone as a Baroque suite, without interruption, but with surprising twists. The movements of the revuelta are called passage; input or call Yaguazo, Yaguazo, and Marisela Guabina input. Sometimes they can call Marisela added to them, and even a small coda. The revuelta is thus equivalent to the batch or shift dance, and its length is probably the reason for its gradual decline in use, being replaced by the execution of the parts in isolation. The arrangement of these sections is of sequential nature, unlike golpes of Llanero joropo, having a cyclic condition. ²

Characteristic of the northeastern region of Venezuela, specifically of Sucre, Nueva Esparta and the north of Anzoátegui and Monagas states. In this particular type of joropo, the melodic instrument par excellence is the mandolin. However, the eastern mandolin (eight nylon strings), violin, harmonica and a small accordion called "cuereta" also have a major role in the oriental musical folklore. The so-called "joropo with refrain" consists of two sections: the first section or "hit" is traditionally a fixed melody in 34 rhythm that is repeated two or more times; the second section or "chorus" is an improvised melody over a fixed harmonic rhythm cycle is 68. Note that in the eastern joropo, cuatro and maracas are executed in a much freer and more complex than in the rest of Venezuelans joropos way. Likewise, it is important to mention that the musical tradition of the eastern region of Venezuela has many other forms besides the eastern joropo. ²

Joropo in the Venezuelan region of Guayana is the product of the interaction of llaneros and eastern Bolivar state, specifically in Ciudad Bolívar. It is executed with the Guayanese mandolin (eight metal strings), cuatro and maracas. The Seis Guayanés, the Josa and Rompeluto highlight among the most famous Guyanese joropos. ²

Hailing from the West Central region of Venezuela, mainly the states of Lara, Portuguesa (Sierra de Portuguesa) and Yaracuy. Played by a variety of stringed instruments (Four, Middle Five, Five and Six) together with Tambora and maracas produce a very particular and unique sound among other Venezuelan joropos. Popular tocuyano hits include "Amalia Rosa", "Montilla", "Gavilan Tocuyano" and "Ah mundo! Barquisimeto", "Los Dos Gavilanes", "El Espanto", "Pajarillo Tocuyano", "Garrote Encabullao", and "Fuego Fuego", among many others. Dancing in the number of members is six couples. ²

Legend says that this type of joropo is named after Jose Antonio Oquendo, who was nicknamed "Quirpa" . Burrowing harpist of the late nineteenth century who died of a stab wound. The quirpa uses ternary and tertiary bars and sometimes combined, with shifts of rhythm and musical accents . ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Joropo”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

joropo is folk music genre and traditional dance of Venezuela and Colombia, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 11 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹