The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela[1] and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla (creole music). It is also the most popular "folk rhythm": the well-known song "Alma Llanera" is a joropo, considered the unofficial national anthem of Venezuela.
In 1882 it became Venezuela's national dance. Formerly, the Spanish word joropo meant "a party", but now it has come to mean a type of music and dance that identifies Venezuelans. This is because in the 18th century the llaneros started using the word “joropo” instead of the word "fandango", which was the word used at the time for party and dance.
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The Joropo is played with the arpa llanera (harp), bandola, cuatro, and maracas (ibid), making use of polyrhythmic patterns, especially of hemiola, and alternation of 3/4 and 6/8 tempos. It was originally played, most often also sung, by the llaneros, the inhabitants of Colombian and Venezuela Llanos (plains), and thus also called música llanera (ibid).
The singer and the harp or bandola may perform the main melody while a cuatro performs the accompaniment, adding its characteristic rhythmic, sharp percussive effect. The cuatro and the bandola are four-stringed instruments which are descendants of the Spanish guitar. The only real percussion instruments used are the maracas. Besides the genre and dance, the name joropo also means the performance, the event or occasion of performance.
The joropo adopted and still uses the hand turn, the movement of the feet, and waltz turns. First, the partners dance a type of waltz holding each other tightly. Then they stand facing each other and make small steps forward and backward as if sweeping the floor. Lastly they hold each others’ arms, and the woman does sweeping steps while the man stomps his feet along with the music’s rhythm.
In modern times, several other instruments have been adding themselves to playing various parts in Joropo performances, for instance, guitar, flute, clarinet, piano, and so on, up to having a complete symphony orchestra playing Joropo arrangements. Since the 1950s the Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero pioneered praiseworthy orchestrations of numerous Joropos, among other native Venezuelan genres, allowing international audiences to enjoy the beautiful Venezuelan music, albeit in a more conventional presentation. Curiously enough, it often happens that when a Symphony Orchestra plays a Joropo, the cuatro is still included.