Juan Vicente Torrealba

 

CONCIERTO EN LA LLANURA (Música Tipica Venezolana)

LOS TORREALBEROS - Al Arpa : Juan Vicente Torrealba

VOL. 1

CONCERT IN THE PLAIN (Tipical Venezuelan Music)

On Harp : Juan Vicente Torrealba

Discos Banco Largo,  ?, QBL - 1204

J.V. Torrealba (full name + Perez) (1917-2019) was considered as the father or one of them of the classical Venezuelan harp music. This volume is the first of a series of three on this label. My father brought it back from Caracas in the early seventies.
The formation is the traditional one with harp, cuatro and maracas; here a double bass is added to double the basses of the harp. Torrealba's playing is quite polished and a bit withheld compared to traditional players in the plains where the strings of the harp are really beaten in a wilder style. But his music is nice nevertheless with a lot of his compositions (eights tracks out of eleven).
Side A has a majority of pasajes with two joropos while side B has what is called caprichos all composed by him.
Eight tracks are part of a compilation published by Gilmar in 1990 but three of the present  tracks were not reissued : B2, B4 and B5. So I hope  fans of Venezuelan harp music will be happy with this post. 

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