Venezuelan Harpist Meets Bluegrass Banjo Star

Join us, MONDAY, March 31, at 7 p.m. for a concert reimagining of two musical traditions. Llanera superstar Larry Bellorín (Venezuela) and Latingrass GRAMMY-nominee Joe Troop play harp, banjo, fiddle, cuatro, maracas, bass, and sing to inspire joy and unity. 

Larry & Joe were destined to make music together. Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is North Carolinian bluegrasser. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker. Joe, after a decade in South America, got stranded back here during the pandemic. Larry worked construction to make ends meet. Joe's band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, so he shifted into action working with migrants. Then Larry met Joe. 
Currently based in the Triangle, both men are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on and whatever instruments they decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce. 

Larry & Joe will also be leading a workshop at 5:45 p.m. before the concert. They will teach attendees a two-chord gabán, a fundamental rhythmic and harmonic structure of the musical style, la música llanera. Learn how strings are used percussively through muting and golpes to create the iconic joropo feel. Though Larry & Joe will use the cuatro (an instrument intrinsically bound to the Venezuelan identity) as a teaching tool, the music is translatable to other string instruments like the banjo. Bringing instruments is welcome but not required.  Sponsored by the Music & Dance Endowment Fund. Check calendar for more details at folkschool.org/calendar