The traditional Música Llanera arises on the flat plains (Los Llanos) of the river Orinoco in Venezuela and Colombia. This music, mostly composed by rural farmers, thunders forward in a fierce gallop and has been over the years a source of inspiration for many folk composers, singers and writers. 

 

In the Joropo, a popular music and dance kind, the musical traditions of South American aboriginals melt together with that of African slaves and Spanish colonists.  The merge results in continuous and peerless grooves, pounding feet and simple tunes that cut straight through the soul. 

 

Joropo is one of the fastest and most popular folk rhythms; couples dance face to face holding hands, using a particular movement of the feet, and portraying a clear difference between masculine and feminine. It is a dance with a constant pulse, and identifies the “llaneros”. The typical ensembles that plays this music includes harp, the bandola (a small pear-shape chordophone), the cuatro (a small 4-strings guitar) and other autochthonous instruments, accompanied by maracas  (castanet shaker) and mostly with voice. 

 

The performance Pulso Llanero gets its inspiration from the unexampled characteristics of the Joropo genre: a complex rhythmical structure that is associated with a folkloric tradition, smooth and organic alternation of tempi, sharp and percussive character.

 

Pulso Llanero features a unique combination of new contemporary works specially written for the project, together with sparkling arrangements of folk tunes from the northern coast of South-America.

 

The line up of Ensemble Black Pencil for this program consists of Blockflutes (Jorge Isaac), Panflute (Matthijs Koene), Viola (Esra Pehlivanli), Percussion (Enric Monfort), and Accordion (Marko Kassl).  The program consists of new works written by the Dutch composers and South-American composers from different generations.

 

Pulso Llanero is a performance of ca.  65 minutes, full of contrast and diversity.  The performance combines unique instrumental sounds (including an original mixture of typical percussion instruments from South-American) and virtuosic instrumental music, sometimes serene and lyrical, sometimes restless and freely aggressive, pleasantly complex in colour and rhythm. An exciting performance with endless inspiration. 

 

 

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PROGRAMME

- Chiel Meijering (1954): Danzai (2011) *

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- Nico Huijbregts (1961): Farfanesque (2011) *

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- Heraclio Fernández (1851-1886): El Diablo Suelto (1888)

arr. for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- Michiel Mensingh (1975): Un Poco Jolopo (2012) *

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- Mirtru Escalona-Mijares (1976): Un Espejismo de Mercurio (2012)

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

 

- Antonio Lauro (1917-1986): Seis por Derecho (1967)

arr. for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- René Uijlenhoet (1961): Signal Hill (2012)

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

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- B.C. Manjunath: Duo (arr. 2011)

for contrabass blockflute and cajón

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- Roderik de Man (1941): Fuerza Interior (2011) *

for blockflute, panflute, viola, accordion and percussion

 

* Commissioned by the Performing Arts Fund NL