First Popular Music Recordings in Venezuelan Soil

Early on the XX Century, recording companies realized that the business was good... Europe and the US were the biggest markets but the World War I made them look around for new lands to conquer.

The Victor Talking Machine Company began to send scouts to travel around the world to record local artists wherever they arrived. The success of the first Cuban recordings (as early as 1907) opened the door to less known Latin American styles like calypso, tangos and even venezuelan joropos.

George Chenney Passport Photo (1917)

On November of 1916, Theodore Ferry, George Cheney and Charles Althouse started a recording adventure that took them to Cuba, Puerto Rico and on January 19, 1917 arrived to La Guayra, Venezuela on board the SS "PHILADELPHIA" (Diaz, Victor Catalog).

It was so unusual that even "El Universal" mentioned the visit of the gringos that came to record "musica criolla".

I imagine them walking around the Plaza Bolivar of Caracas, trying to communicate with the locals asking where to find some fine musicians to record them.




They made more than 30 recordings during their stay in Venezuela from January 25th to February, 2nd. Some of the performers are unknown for us like Juan Blanco, Ramon Parisca, Tomas Abreu, Cuerpo de Francisco López y Salvador Flores (sic) or Pepino Sarno... but after a few days they were able to contact the Banda Marcial de Caracas (directed by Pedro Elias Gutierrez) and the Orquesta Tipica Caraquena under Manuel Briceno. Many of their records are still recognized among the best examples of venezuelan music.

The most important record of all? Without a doubt it is"Alma Llanera" the famous composition of P. E. Gutierrez. The existence of this record ends an old dispute about who recorded it first.  Apparently, Richard Spottswood attributed it to the Trio Colombiano of Alejandro Wills (recorded in NY - 1919). And so started a long dispute among colombians and venezuelans about who really wrote this joropo, so popular it is a second National Anthem for both countries.

We were lucky enough to find a photo of the actual "Alma Llanera" record, just if anyones still doubts the Victor Discography!

The Orquesta Caraquena, seems to be some ensemble Pedro Elias Gutierrez created on the spot to be able to record a different selection of songs. The guy was smart and probably sounded much better than the other performers...

Photo Courtesy of Carlos Alberto Montes de Oca

Apparently, the first venezuelan artist to record in venezuelan soil were forgotten by history. Years of research about them has turned no results until now, but finally thanks to the US Library of Congress' National Jukebox we are able to have a sample of what they sounded like.

La Noche Triste by Tomas Abreu

(the oldest venezuelan record available)

 

Flores de Pascuas by Cuerpo de Francisco

For more samples visit The National Jukebox site and search using the keyword "Venezuela"