El Palmas Music return to Venezuela’s golden age with Color de Trópico Vol. 2, featuring another selection of
tracks from the hugely creative, and hedonistic, period of the 60s and 70s when Venezuela was at the cutting-
edge of Latin American music.
First single is “Santo Domingo” by Mario y Sus Diamantes. A classic cumbia (originally performed by Colombia’s Los Cumbiamberos De Pacheco), the track starts with percussion and an unmistakeable cumbia bass line, before the group’s founder Mario Carniello takes over on his trusted Hammond Organ, twisting the melody left and right, building up the rhythm then tearing it down. Released in 1966, at the time Carniello was one of Venezuela’s finest musical exports, winning the country’s esteemed Mara de Oro award and having hits
throughout Colombia, Mexico, Peru and elsewhere in Latin America.
In some ways, Mario Carniello is emblematic of the economic and creative boom Venezuela was having at the time.
Born in Italy, Carniello moved to Barquisimeto, focal point of Venezuela’s oil industry, but due to his prowess on the organ (as well as accordion and marimba) he soon found himself being beckoned to the country’s capital, Caracas, where the thirst for tropical music was blossoming due to the country’s oil-bolstered economy
and democratic stability (after many years of authoritarian regimes). Through the 60s and 70s, there were few
better places to be for a musician (no matter the nationality) than Venezuela.
On Color de Trópico Vol. 2, Mario y sus Diamantes are joined by other artists who reaped the rewards of this golden age for Venezuelan music, a time when they had the license to be creative, and were as connected with the rest of the world’s music as they’ve ever been. La Retreta Mayor, Anselmo y su Conjunto, Orquesta La Playa, Nelson y Sus Estrellas, Los Cuatros Monedas, Almendra and Los Kings were, like Mario, dishing out an
unashamedly bold fusion of Venezuelan rhythms with the latest global tropical music crazes. On which other compilation can you find covers of Fela Kuti and Desmond Decker alongside gritty salsa and grooving llanera from the Venezuelan plains?
ELPALMASMUSIC.COM
released March 26, 2021
Artwork Georgina Maldera
Press Note Russ Slater
Mastering The Carvery