{"id":26253,"date":"2023-01-04T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T17:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=26253"},"modified":"2023-07-10T10:46:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T17:46:37","slug":"the-magic-of-venezuelan-classical-from-el-sistema-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/the-magic-of-venezuelan-classical-from-el-sistema-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"The Magic of Venezuelan Classical: From El Sistema and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the center of the documentary <\/span>Children of Las Brisas<\/span><\/i><\/a> are the young musicians of El Sistema, the extraordinary, publicly financed, voluntary sector music-education program founded in Venezuela in 1975 by educator, musician, and activist Jos\u00e9 Antonio Abreu. Playing a range of classical music from the 20th century and earlier, the youth orchestra covers Latin American composers like Mexico’s Arturo M\u00e1rquez and Venezuelan Antonio Est\u00e9vez, whose most famous piece is “Cantata Criolla,” which builds in epic fashion through three large-scale movements.<\/span><\/p>\n

We’ve compiled a playlist with live performance tracks by El Sistema’s Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Youth Orchestra, as well as Venezuelan classical pieces performed by other musicians. We also included popular Venezuelan standards from way back in the day, including legendary Venezuelan singer <\/span>Soledad Bravo<\/b> and the tropical music group <\/span>Guaco<\/b>, who formed in the late ’60s and released many tracks extremely popular in Venezuela\u2014and beyond\u2014over the decades. The playlist concludes with the Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Youth Orchestra’s vibrant rendition of Marquez’s bouncy “Conga del Fuego.”<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this gives you a flavor of Venezuela, while just scratching the surface of the talents on display in <\/span>Children of Las Brisas<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Con algo de \u00f1apa<\/span><\/i>, we mixed in some enticing performance videos here of Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar Youth Orchestra in action, for even more of a taste of Venezuela. <\/span>\u00a1Disfruten!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n