new album 2010 — kakri: variations for the venezuelan bandola llanera

“A potent mix of Latin American folk music and jazz”

Quijeremá brings forth, in their recent work, a compelling new border-crossing musical journey of folklore and jazz. Their latest release “Kakri: variations for the venezuelan bandola llanera” infuses original contemporary Latin American compositions with a deep sensibility of musical traditions. The bandola llanera is a lost cousin of the Middle Eastern Oud and the music of Kakri expands the bandola’s musical horizons as it captures the power of the Venezuelan tamborera, the playful festejo of Peru, as well as the soulful Mississippi blues.

Quijeremá is a fine-tuned San Francisco Bay Area based ensemble and this album includes performances from world-renowned Grammy®-award nominated percussionist John Santos, Colombian vocalist Claudia Gomez, Chilean singer-songwriter Rafael Manriquez, and Uruguayan singer-songwriter Federico Wolf. Kakri calculates a new bearing in the world of jazz and folk music and is one of many new world folk traditions, which continue to evolve.

Quijeremá produced “Kakri” in collaboration with four-time Grammy®-award nominated producer Greg Landau, and Grammy®-winning master engineer John Greenham who brought distinctive and equally adventurous musical brilliance to the album.

For this project they used two distinctive bandolas. The Venezuelan master luthier Ramón Blanco built a special bandola with additional frets to accommodate to their music. They  also used a traditional folk instrument built by the Venezuelan master luthier Misael Montoya.


read more about the album kakri