Joropo

Joropo is a music genre and traditional dance from Colombia and Venezuela, and its diversity is manifested in different subregional typologies. Among them we can mention the oriental joropo, the central joropo (with some specificities such as the joropo tuyero, the joropo mirandino or the joropo aragüeño), the andean joropo and the laranian coup in Venezuela; besides the joropo llanero, typical of the Colombian-Venezuelan plains. In Venezuela there are also important variants that merge elements of the aforementioned types, with the development of stylistic particularities, such as the joropo of Guiana, joropo guaribero or cordillerano, joropo horconiao and urban joropo.

For the cultores of the rural areas, the word refers more to the party or dance event, than to the music or the choreography itself. To designate these elements, they use much more specific terms, such as corrido, pasaje, golpe o revuelta in the case of music, and valsiao, zapateao or escobillao for the case of dance. However, the Vidal Colmenares coplero, a cult of the joropo veguero, affirms based on oral family testimonies that date back to the 19th century, that in the plains of Barinas, Apure and Portuguesa, the word joropo is not used to describe the fiesta: it is simply says "parranda" Colmenares believes that the connotation comes rather from Caracas and has been imposed in the Venezuelan lexicon with that meaning that is not typical of the plain. However, in urban areas, the word joropo is used in general to designate a lively music with harp, cuatro and maracas as an instrumental basis, without any reference to dance.

The first news about the joropo dates from 1749, when on April 10 of that year, the Governor of the General Captaincy of Venezuela, Mr. Luis Francisco de Castellanos, prohibited the dancing of the joropo brushed8. Descriptions can be made with different meanings historical, present and in different places of what is meant by joropo. In the Venezuelan plains are its synonyms parrando and cantina, and in Colombia, guafa. It is important to insist on the diversity of the genre in order to break with the paradigm that joropo refers only to its llanera variant.

Although some authors affirm that the beautiful dance of the joropo comes from the waltz given its ternary character and its choreography of linked couples, the latter is later, dating from the 19th century. It is much more certain that it comes from the fandango, a term that it supplanted to refer to the same types of parties and music with which it shares greater similarities. Both show the influence of Spanish gyrations and accompaniments typical of medieval and Renaissance music of late influence with colonization, in which the use of syncopation and hemiolated or sesquiáltero rhythms in 3 / 4-6 / 8 stands out. In addition, 3/2 hypermeters are often superimposed on this metric structure, the accents of which are accentuated every two measures, which some have called repercussion. Therefore, the hemiola or sesquiáltero (in general terms, the 3 against 2) is the rule in the joropo, either at the compass level, or at the hypermetro