Arrangement by Brian Lewis. Alma Llanera ("Soul Of The Plains") is a Venezuelan song, a joropo (a musical style resembling the fandango, and an accompanying dance. It has African, Native South American and European influences and originated in the plains called "Los Llanos" of what is now Venezuela and Colombia. It is a fundamental genre of música criolla (creole music).) created by Venezuelan musicians Pedro Elías Gutiérrez (composer) and Rafael Bolívar Coronado (lyricist). It was originally part of a zarzuela (a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance.) whose premiere was on September 19, 1914, at the Teatro Caracas. Alma Llanera has since come to be considered as Venezuela's unofficial second national anthem. Its hundredth anniversary was marked by its being has declared Bien de Interés Cultural.
The first part of Alma Llanera is inspired on the waltz Marisela by composer Sebastian Díaz Peña from Venezuela, while the second part of Alma Llanera is inspired on the waltz Mita by the Curaçaon composer Jan Gerard Palm (1831-1906). The title refers to the Llaneros, the herders of Venezuela and Colombia whose culture is part of these countries' popular imagery. The llanero culture is at the root of the joropo, firstly as a dance and then as a musical genre.
It is a tradition in Venezuela to end any social reunion or party with the intonation of Alma Llanera.
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