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Betsayda Machado y Parranda El Clavo, Live In Concert

Afro-Venezuelan singer Betsayda Machado, performing at globalFEST in New York City in January.
Kevin Yatarola
/
Courtesy of globalFEST
Afro-Venezuelan singer Betsayda Machado, performing at globalFEST in New York City in January.

One of the most joyful shows I've heard in years came courtesy of the clarion-voiced Afro-Venezuelan singer Betsayda Machado and her group La Parranda El Clavo, who made their New York City debut at the annual globalFEST festival in January.

They root their often politically pointed lyrics with the sounds of their heritage — including intricate African polyrhythms and percussion, as well as call-and-response singing — occasionally mixed with close harmonies that evoke an almost-R&B feel.

Though she has been based in the capital city of Caracas for many years, Machado comes from a small village of 1,500 people called El Clavo, located near Venezuela's Caribbean coastline. Like Machado and her bandmates, the town's inhabitants are mostly Afro-Venezuelans, the descendants of slaves who had worked on the area's cacao plantations.

For generations, they've been able to hold onto certain elements of their African and uniquely Afro-Venezuelan heritage, especially in their music-making. And the music of this band, La Parranda El Clavo, has helped keep their community strong and proud of their traditions. The group has been playing together for nearly three decades, primarily at town festivals, holidays and funerals. But it's only now that they've begun touring North America — and making their singular, passionate and purposeful voices reverberate in the wider world.

SET LIST

  • "Aparece San Juan" [Appear, San Juan]
  • "No La Peles Papá" [Don't Miss It, Papa]
  • "Oh, Santa Rosa"
  • "Sirenas" [Sirens]
  • "Alalé"
  • "Mayoral" [Slave Trader]
  • "Veleño" [Veleño Drums]
  • "Aragua" [Aragua Drums]
  • "San Millán" [San Millán Drums]
  • "Fusión" [Fusion]
  • "Sentimiento" [Feeling]
  • "Pueblo" [Our Town]
  • MUSICIANS

    Betsayda Machado: vocals; Nereida Machado: vocals, dance; Oscar Ruiz: vocals, dance; Adrian Gomez: percussion, dance, vocals; Asterio Betancourt: percussion; Youse Cardozo: percussion; Jose Gregorio Gomez: percussion, dance, vocals; Blanca Rosa Castillo: percussion.

    SOUND ENGINEERS:

    Josh Rogosin, Rick Kwan and Noriko Okabe.

    Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Anastasia Tsioulcas is a correspondent on NPR's Culture desk. She is intensely interested in the arts at the intersection of culture, politics, economics and identity, and primarily reports on music. Recently, she has extensively covered gender issues and #MeToo in the music industry, including the trial and conviction of former R&B superstar R. Kelly; backstage tumult and alleged secret deals in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against megastar singer Plácido Domingo; and gender inequity issues at the Grammy Awards.