Plucked string instrument

Yesterday April 4 was celebrated the international day of the cuatro. This is a plucked string instrument that has its origin in the Spanish guitar and was modified in Venezuela many years ago. It has four strings and that is why it is called cuatro. It is the most popular folk instrument in my country and is used in several Latin American countries.

I was unaware that this instrument had a day in his honor and that on this date music schools perform activities to celebrate it, it was through an advertisement on social networks that I learned that in my community the orchestra system would make a presentation, I had a very busy day I left home very early and returned at 3 pm, but after lunch I went with my aunt to listen and watch the presentation.

When we arrived there was no start they were just practicing, I was surprised to see that there were only two people who were probably representatives of some of the children, that saddened me because it was a free presentation and the effort of the young people was for an audience that was not there except for the two ladies, my aunt and myself, but then the sadness passed and I was flattered to have an exclusive and private concert 😅.

The musicians were children, who played, in addition to the cuatro, mandolins, guitars, maracas and bass of the instruments I could appreciate, plus a choir of 5 children. The director, after five minutes, changed his shirt and gave a brief presentation, since a guest teacher who would speak about the history of the cuatro was unable to attend.

They played four songs

Santa Ana del Cendal, from the Venezuelan merengue genre
Quitapesares, from the joropo genre.
Mi primer vals, waltz genre.
Luna de margarita, folk music, tonada and the one sung by the choir.

In the same order that he mentioned the songs were performed, of the four I was familiar with two, being my favorite Luna de Margarita which is one of the songs that are practiced as a beginner in the cuatro, I still remember when I was learning it in my childhood, this song was written by Simon Diaz the most representative Venezuelan singer-songwriter of popular culture, now deceased, he himself said that he composed these verses to his wife who was angry and to please her he wrote Luna de Margarita.

The following lyrics, translated into English:

The concert lasted about 12 minutes at most, of which I recorded about 8 and in the video you can hear my voice singing the last song.

It was a nice moment that I enjoyed this day, listening to live music is really special. My aunt told me that she liked it, I applauded those children and teachers with my soul, I was glad that I had enough motivation to attend.