Watching Betsayda Machado y Parranda El Clavo perform their Tiny Desk concert is like peering back in time. The music's roots extend to the Venezuelan slave trade, and while the vocals are in Spanish and not an African dialect, the instruments the group plays date back more than 500 years.
The large bamboo cylinders, the djembe-like drums and the large friction drum together create a symphony of interlocking polyrhythms that was unlike anything I'd heard. Machado's vocals soar over the unrelenting rhythms, and when she harmonizes with the other singers, it creates a choir-like display of African call-and-response vocals.
When discussing African-influenced music from the southern hemisphere, we often focus on countries like Brazil and Cuba, places where the folk music eventually made its way into popular music. Afro-Venezuelan culture and music is rarely featured or even acknowledged outside of the country. As you'll see in this video, that should change once music fans take in the beauty of Machado's voice and the power of her historical message.
Set List
• "Oh, Santa Rosa"
• "Alaé Alaó"
• "Sentimiento"
Musicians
Betsayda Machado, Nereida Machado, Youse Cardozo, Blanca Castilo, Adrian "Ote" Gomez, Jose Gomez, Oscar Ruiz.
Credits
Producers: Felix Contreras, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Bronson Arcuri, Alyse Young; Editor: Alyse Young; Production Assistant: Salvatore Maicki, Josephine Nyounai; Photo: Jennifer Kerrigan/NPR.
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