The music that is originally from Caracas, which is the musical manifestation of the city, is at the same time the first urban musical expression that occurs in Venezuela, it is the cañonera music. Although the explanation of what is this music comes in a forthcoming publication, I wanted to first show what are the rhythms of this musical genre.

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Para la versión en español ¡haz clic aquí!

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The rhythms themselves

Each one of them has its respective post, but let's see a summary:

• Caracas Merengue, is the most outstanding rhythm and the most original, because it was born of these musicians who played in the Caracas of 1920. Nowadays it has become one of the favorite rhythms of the young musicians of the country, although it has lost in great measured its essence of dance music. You can find out more details in the article “What is Venezuelan Merengue?”.
• Pasodoble, although born in Spain, the musicians of that Caracas of the early twentieth century managed to give such particular characteristics to this rhythm, which ended up distancing itself from its Spanish namesake, to become a Venezuelan urban musical manifestation. More information in “Vernacular Pasodoble of Caracas, true or false?”.
• Joropo, is the national rhythm par excellence. However, there are several types of joropo and, although the cañonero musicians played of all kinds, there are reasons to suppose that the one from Caracas is the Central Joropo. The article that I wrote to complement the future post on cañonera music is “Joropo, a whole nation dancing”. But for people who want to go deeper into this subject, I recommend another pos I wrote about the Central Joropo (also called Golpe Tuyero): “Tuyero Dance (English - Español - Deutsch)”.
• Venezuelan waltz, one of the most expanded musical forms throughout the national territory and the one that evolved most as Venezuelan musical form. More information in “Waltz, from Austria to Venezuelan traditions”.

I always highlight these four musical forms as the own rhythms of the cañonero groups, because they were the ones that gave a specific characteristic to this type of groups and they were the ones that gave a certain unity to the musical movement that arose in that time and that allows me to affirm that there is a musical manifestation that can be gathered under a single name "cañonera music". These musical forms acquired their own Venezuelan stamp and got integrated into the daily life and cultural rituals of this country.

But there is more

But it is true that these were not the only rhythms played by these groups, since there was no intention in them to generate any cultural movement or anything similar. Their only goal was to play music that was liked by all, that would serve to dance and have fun. A goal that went beyond their need to communicate or convey a specific message.

To achieve this goal they played the fashionable songs or those that a varied audience demanded from them, which were part of the growing city, which had a growing number of immigrants, both national and foreign.

Some of the rhythms that were a mandatory part of the daily repertoire are the following.

• Ragtime. This type of music, which is considered to have been brought by the employees of the North American oil companies that settled in the country, had a determining role in the formation of the musical groups of the early twentieth century. Part of that legacy can be seen in an article that I published and that is titled “What does it mean to "kill a tiger"?”.
• Foxtrot. It is important to remember that the main way of diffusion of music for those times were the groups of zarzuela, operetta, and varieties. For being the foxtrot one of the most widespread dances by then, it was also popularized in Venezuela, where some songs by Mexican and Venezuelan authors survive, as in the case of Conny Méndez, who composed some songs in this rhythm.
• Cuban music, Here I do not mean a specific rhythm, because there were several rhythms of that island that were imposed in Venezuela since the beginning of that century: rumba, guaracha, bolero, son, conga, are some of the names of music from Cuba that cheered the celebrations of the city of Caracas. About the arrival of Son to this land, there is a post that I wrote “The "Son" got into the neighborhood”.

Of course there was a lot more music in the city, because there was the part of the academic music that was developed in the conservatories, theaters and spaces devoted to art, the folkloric manifestations that took place in the city, the serenade music that was most appreciated of those years, which had in Andrés Cisneros its maximum exponent, and all the fashionable musical genres, as it was the tango that caused a impact without parameters in the city, among others.

But here I have concentrated on the rhythms played by some groups called later "cañoneros" and that became an icon of the city, generating what many of us call "cañonera music". These four rhythms formed the original sound of Caracas, which is also linked to some instruments and a very particular language, so they make up a very specific unit.

Misinformation

However, most of the groups that play this music have not been able to give it their true value and, in general, they continue to combine these rhythms with others that do not correspond to the identity of Caracas, but indiscriminately still use the title of "cañonera music" to play Cuban, Colombian, Dominican music, etc. And they fail to realize the damage they do to what is the only musical manifestation, still alive, of the city. It is understood that the "cañoneros" of 1920 played any foreign rhythm to make people happy, because that was their purpose, their end goal. But for the people who know, for the defenders of the cultural identity of the city, it should be a priority task to delimit this musical genre and highlight the rhythms that correspond to the first urban musical manifestation of this country.

Due to this attitude today there is a great confusion in the population about what is "cañonera music", where most people associate it exclusively with "old music", or as it is often called "yesteryears music". The difference of this is that if we understand it as "cañonera music", we can consider its diffusion and development as an original musical language of the city, with its own perspectives and modernization possibilities; but if we take it as "yesteryears music" it will never go from being "old music", destined to be "museum pieces", to continue aging and disappearing, a fact that is quite similar to current reality.

With this publication ends this first part dedicated to the rhythms performed by these groups that are a fundamental part of the history of the city of Caracas, capital of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Music

Canción de amor (Foxtrot) – Parranderos de Caracas

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Venga che pe (Son-merengue) – Cañón contigo

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Caminito de Guarenas (Porro colombiano) – Serenata de Antaño