A few days ago I published a Parranda I composed (Canta una Parranda). To the brief description I gave about the genre, the friend @volcandemorcilla wrote the following: "(...) in Spain, we mean by "going out to the parranda" when a group of friends usually go out to sing and dance at night. It is something like "Tuna de estudiantes" (a kind of student's choir), I see that it is a little different in Venezuela, I like this platform, which allows us to face the differences and equalities between the nations."

Although I explained in a few words in a reply that it is very similar, it seemed appropriate to do a little more and to tell my personal experiences with this musical genre, which brought me great joy in life and is part of the music of my life, so it's also #mymusic.

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Die deutsche Version ist zur Verfügung hier!

¡La versión en español está disponible en este enlace!

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_{Borrachos Buenos Parranda Show (Good Drunkard Parranda Show)}

The Wikipedia in English says about the Parranda:

Parranda, from Parranda de Aguinaldo, is an Afro-indigenous musical form that is played in several Caribbean countries such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad and the coastal states of Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela.

The first two definitions that Google gives us are:

1. Lively fun, especially the one where you explore different places to drink or dance.
2. Group of people going out to play or sing at night to have fun.

Both relate to the reality of the Venezuelan Parranda, which, no matter whether it is religiously motivated or not, certainly has fun, goes through many places or houses, sings and plays. So we are not far from the use given to the term in Spain.

The lyrics of the sung songs can have one of two connotations that distinguish them. The excitement about "the divine" is religious in nature and is usually sung in allusion to Christmas, the baby Jesus, the Magi, or any religious element related to the birth of the baby Jesus.

The other option is the "pagan" Parranda, which can accommodate any non-religious theme and usually refers to the festive part of the activity, the drink and/or the food, etc.

Until the mid-70s, the "Parrandas" were played in the regions indicated by Wikipedia, but thanks to the success and popularity that the music group "Un Solo Pueblo" achieved at that time, they managed to spread Parrandas throughout the whole country and prompted the birth of numerous groups dedicated to the performance of the rhythms of the coast, including the Parranda.

The basic instruments of a Parranda are the Cuatro, Tambora (drum), Furruco, Charrasca, Maracas, to which later guitar, mandolin or violin were added, and nowadays is the use of bass, piano, cuban tres, trumpet, saxophone and trombone very popular. In most cases in traditional festivals are there only wearable instruments, as the group goes from house to house, usually starting to play from the door, to surprise.

Apart from the professional groups dedicated to this genre, it is common for groups to gather with the religious or festive spirit. It was common that when the Parranda arrived in a house, some members of this family joined the group. In general, these presentations in each house consisted of a few songs in which the participants improvised verses according to the theme of each song.

_{The Parranda on arrival in a house.}

I myself had a Parranda group, where many relatives participated, and we were active for almost 30 years at Christmas. Our group called itself "Borrachos Buenos Parranda Show" (Good Drunkard Parranda Show), a big and bombastic name for a family activity with a traditional character, which referes to the fact that in each house different drinks were offered, so you had to be a good drinker, so as not to get drunk. So we toured the city (as opposed to the village groups, which only had to cover the street they lived in), where we sometimes had to drive 5, 6 or 7 cars, in a group of at least 5 people and sometimes so much People were that the group ended up having 20 or 25 members. Every day we "gave Parranda", we visited an average of 10 houses that could be in distant sectors of the city, but we reached records where we spent three days without sleep, from one Parranda to the next.

^{Borrachos Buenos Parranda Show}

As I mentioned earlier, there are Parrandas of traditions, relatives and also professional groups. Among the latter are the group Un Solo Pueblo, Francisco Pacheco (the main soloist of the previous group). La Verde Clarita, a group with more than 70 years of existence; with 60 years of artistic life there is Las Voces Risueñas de Carayaca; Nancy Ramos was for years the main star of the Christmas season with the Parrandas, which she recorded at the end of the year; So did Néstor Zavarce in the 60s: Groups like Palo de Arco, Candela and El Quinto Criollo were also important artists of this genre. In addition, the groups of Gaita have included this music in their repertoire, such as Maracaibo 15 and Melody Gaita. Most groups and singers of Venezuelan music have sung Parrandas at some point in their career, including my group Los Cañoneros.

Music

El agua de Dios - La Verde Clarita

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El Cocuy que alumbra - Un Solo Pueblo

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Aguinaldo Carupanero - Las Voces Risueñas de Carayaca

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Sereno - Grupo Vera

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Canta una parranda - Hely Orsini y sus Guataqueros

I'll share once again my composition, which we recorded with my sister's group.

► Listen on DSound

► Listen from source (IPFS)

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• Unless otherwise stated, all photos are part of my personal collection and some of them are published on my social networks. All pictures are from my group "Borrachos Buenos Parranda Show" in different houses.

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# This post was created for the #mymusic tag. Read more!

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