Music of Venezuela

Several styles of the traditional music of Venezuela, such as salsa and merengue, are common to its Caribbean neighbors. Perhaps the most typical Venezuelan music is joropo, a rural form which originated in the llanos, or plains.

Joropo was developed by creative artists such as Juan Vicente Torrealba, Ignacio Figueredo, Augusto Bracca, Genaro Prieto, Eneas Perdomo and Angel Custodio Loyola, who helped to popularize the music throughout the country. Since then a slick, contemporary form of pop-llanera has developed which has earned the scorn of some purists who perceive it as stale and watered-down. Some singers, such as Isabelita Aparicio, Adilia Castillo, Lorenzo Herrera, Simon Diaz, Mario Suarez, Edith Salcedo, Magdalena Sanchez, Rafael Montaño, Reyna Lucero, Vidal Colmenares, Armando Martinez, Raquel Castaños, Scarlett Linares, Cristina Maica, Emily Galaviz, José Catire Carpio, Cristobal Jimenez, Juan de los Santos Contreras (El Carrao de Palmarito) and Reynaldo Armas have maintained a huge following over the years. In a similar vein, there is also neo-folklore, which takes traditional music and arranges it in an electronic style.

Another very popular music in Venezuela is the Gaita Zuliana. This genre originated from the region of Zulia State and is very popular during the Christmas season. The gaita united to the Aguinaldo, conforms the national representation of the Venezuelan Christmas. In the east, the malagueña, punto and galerón accompanies the velorios de cruz de mayo, (religious tradition, that is celebrated on 3 May in honor to the Christian cross). In the Venezuelan Andes, the Venezuelan bambuco is a local variation of the bambuco. Other forms include polo and the Venezuelan waltz. The Quinteto Contrapunto, founded by Rafael Suárez and Aida Navarro, was a celebrated Venezuelan vocal quintet which reached nationwide and international celebrity in the early 1960s, and was very active for about a decade.

Other forms of Venezuelan folk music are tensively recorded and researched due to the work of Caracas-based Fundación Bigott. African-derived percussion (including multiple rhythms, such as sangueo, fulia, parranda and tamborera) is perhaps the best documented musical form. Fundacion Bigott has also produced groups such Un Solo Pueblo, Huracán de Fuego and Grupo Madera. These more experimental fusion artists combine rumba, Latin jazz, joropo, salsa, Venezuelan traditional chants and other forms of Latin American music.

Then there is also the genre commonly known as "Onda Nueva" (New Wave), which is a combination of joropo and jazz music, with influences from the Brazilian Bossa Nova. The genre was introduced by Aldemaro Romero with a special contribution by famed drummer and timpanist Frank Hernandez, nicknamed "El Pavo" (The Turkey (Venezuelan slang for “the youth”)) by employing a very peculiar drum beat. The term was coined by jazz analyst Jacques Braunstein after having been shown a copy of Romero's earliest composition called "Araguita", (originally to be used as jingle material), which Braunstein described as "something of a new wave". Onda Nueva music was heralded as the Venezuelan Bossa Nova with a very particular seal.

Venezuelan calypso music (including Calypso de El Callao), imported from Trinidad in the 1880s by immigrants arriving during a gold rush, has its own distinctive rhythms and lyrical style. Another imported genre is Cuban-American salsa, which has produced several domestic superstars, including Oscar D'Leon. Dominican merengue, Cuban and Colombian Latin pop acts such as Billo's Caracas Boys, the Porfi Jiménez Orchestra and Los Melódicos.

Salsa music arrived in Venezuela in the latter half of the 20th century, primarily influenced by the vibrant salsa scenes of Cuba and Puerto Rico. As the genre spread across Latin America, Venezuelan musicians embraced and adapted it, developing a distinct local sound. By the late 1970s, Venezuela had become not just a hub for salsa consumption but also a key center for its production, with new groups emerging that reflected the country’s unique cultural and musical identity.

One of the pioneering salsa groups in Venezuela was Dimensión Latina, founded in 1973. Known for their tight brass arrangements and infectious rhythms, the band played a crucial role in popularizing salsa within the country. Their collaboration with renowned vocalist Oscar D'León, who has been credited with bringing salsa to "all corners of the world," cemented Venezuela’s place in the international salsa scene. In 1980, he released Llorarás, a salsa classic that became a defining song of his career and Venezuelan salsa.