Chelique Sarabia* – Revolución Electrónica En Música Venezolana
Jose Enrique Sarabia - Revolución Electrónica En Música Venezolana
Label:    Pharaway Sounds – PHS064
Format:    
Vinyl, LP, Reissue
Country:    Spain
Released:    2019
Genre:    Electronic, Folk, World, & Country
Style:    Folk

Ultimate space-age exotica trip from Venezuela

In the early 70s, well-known composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia (who penned the famous “Ansiedad” when he was just a kid) decided to register an album of traditional & folkloric songs from Venezuela but giving them a modern touch, using especially developed equipment (M.R.A.A.), based off of the principles of the Moog.

Chelique, helped by a team of gifted musicians, employed traditional instruments like the cuatro and the bandola llanera, filtering them through oscillators, playing with feedback, tape delay, synthesized frequencies, echoing sounds…The result was “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana”, an album with a truly exotic, psychedelic, and ahead of its time sound.

Originally, the album was sponsored by the Shell Company in Venezuela, given away to customers, employees and friends of the company as a Christmas gift in 1973.

It was titled “4 Fases del Cuatro – Música Venezolana desarrollada Electrónicamente por Chelique Sarabia” (“4 Phases of Four – Venezuelan Music Electronically Developed by Chelique Sarabia”). Once the exclusivity period with the petrol company was over, Chelique did a commercial release, this time under the name of “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana” (“Electronic Revolution in Venezuelan Music”). Thanks to this, Chelique and his team were considered electronic music pioneers in Latin America.

“In the past five decades, there have been many attempts at modernizing the vast folkloric tradition of Venezuela, but nobody has reached the level of depth that CHELIQUE SARABIA did when he put his impeccable reputation as a composer and arranger at risk with this out-of-the-blue revolutionary musical manifesto in 1971. 47 years later, an album that remains ahead of its time.” – Alex Figueira (Fumaça Preta)

*Master tape sound

*Insert with liner notes by Chelique Sarabia.


Tracklist: 1. El Pajarillo – 2. Maracaibo En La Noche – 3. Polo Margariteño – 4. Cantos De Mi Tierra – 5. El Cumaco de San Juan – 6. El Diablo Suelto – 7. Polo Coriano – 8. Mare-Mare / Por Comer Zopoara / El Pájaro Guarandol – 9. Sombra En Los Médanos – 10. Barlovento – 11. Río Manzanares – 12. La Bella Del Tamunangue


A1        El Pajarillo
A2        Maracaibo En La Noche
A3        Polo Margariteño
A4        Cantos De Mi Tierra
A5        El Cumaco De San Juan
A6        El Diablo Suelto
B1        Polo Coriano
B2        Mare-Mare / Por Comer Zopoara / El Pájaro Guarandol
B3        Sombra En Los Médanos
B4        Barlovento
B5        Río Manzanares
B6        La Bella Del Tamunangue

Chelique Sarabia makes use of contemporary recording systems/effects to give a new form to typical Venezuelan songs. These recordings were constructed with M.R.A.A. equipment (based off of the principles of the Moog) and traditional instruments.

    Barcode: 4040824088897