- The Venezuelan group was invited to several of the festivals scheduled for the summer in the Old Continent
The B11 Ensemble has two show proposals prepared to surprise the European public during the summer. This Venezuelan group, made up of nine talented musicians, began the “Lo vocal es lo nuestro” tour through Europe, which had its first stop in Spain on July 14 with a performance in Madrid.
This musical journey will also take them through Austria, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Hungary, where they will face a new audience to whom they are unknown. Those who do know them are the organizers of the events and festivals to which they were invited in various European cities. In 2023, Ensamble B11 participated in a music festival in the city of Setúbal in Portugal, a presentation that opened the doors to the group and since then those invitations have emerged.
“It is something wonderful, that took us by surprise, and a very good surprise that we have taken with great emotion and commitment because it is representing Venezuela in these European countries. It is a fairly extensive tour with fairs in communities where we are bringing our traditions, our culture and we feel that it is a wonderful commitment, because we are going to do what we like and with pride, because we represent the country,” said Belkys Figuera, director of the ensemble, in an interview for The newspaper.
A self-guided tour
The ensemble created a crowdfunding campaign with the intention of covering part of the group’s expenses during the tour. Even though they received invitations from festival organizers, in many cases the musicians must pay for transportation, lodging and meals.
The artists did not want the economic factor to be a limitation to fulfill this commitment in Europe, so they put together a proposal on the platform InCrescwhich offers this crowdfunding option for musical projects with the intention of being able to self-manage the tour.
“We have been raising funds for lodging and tickets since June. The support has been progressive, but we still need to raise money to reach our goal and be able to use that money while we are there,” explained Figuera.
The director of the group clarified that raising funds has been difficult, but that many people have been willing to help them. She also highlighted the support that the programmers of fairs in Spain have given them, in coordination with their producer Ana María Díaz in Venezuela, who made the purchase of the tickets to Madrid.
“We are continuing with the travel expenses campaign. There are times when we will be away from fairs and festivals and we will need accommodation and some meals that are not covered,” he explained.
High expectations
Nayaleth García, a member of the group, spoke with The newspaper regarding her expectations for the European tour. She said she feels extremely proud to be able to represent her country and take Venezuelan traditions beyond Venezuelan borders.
“We hope that these festivals will lead to more invitations to more festivals and we can continue to represent Venezuela,” he said.
Ivanna Lira explained that one of her goals is to make Venezuelan culture more widely known in these cities and for people to fall in love with the country’s traditional music.
Belkys Figuera explained that the producers of the events have warned them that the festival audience is unaware of them, their music and Venezuelan culture, so everything that happens will be a surprise for both the musicians and the spectators. She added that they hope to be able to leave the events making it clear that they are a Venezuelan group in all its essence.
They told us: ‘You are going to face an audience that in some places may never have heard of Venezuela and you are that face of the country and that is why you have to give it your all’, so this is a very special tour, with a lot of commitment and a lot of emotion for us,” said the director of the ensemble.
The proposals of the B11 Ensemble
An added value of the group is its vocal proposal, in which they present sounds of Afro-Venezuelan drums with the use of the technique of beat boxAdditionally, the musicians bring another proposal with traditional instruments and a variety of genres within Venezuelan music.
In total, the musicians prepared three repertoires, one of them entirely calypso and the others with variations between rhythms from different regions of the country such as: Falcón, Miranda, Carabobo, Bolívar and Aragua.
“In fact, there is a fair where we have to give three dance workshops. They asked us to teach how to dance culo e’ puya, gaita de tambora and calypso. We even brought the madam costumes and skirts that they wear in the state of Miranda,” explained Figuera.
Among the activities, they will also give vocal percussion workshops to teach the technique of beat box which are used to form the acapella drum group. Traditional instruments are integrated into the experience to make the comparison of sounds.
A constant support
When the group released the information regarding the tour and the funds raised, the members began receiving messages from family and friends living in Europe expressing their excitement and offering support in whatever they needed for their trip.
“We have had many family friends who have been keeping an eye on us, on which date we are going to sing there in the various countries where we are going to be in Europe, they want to be present and that has been very nice because we feel the support of so many Venezuelans,” said Nayaleth García.
Many of these people who have offered them support have followed the progress of the group since its origin in the cultural workshops of the Bigott Foundation. The B11 Ensemble has evolved as a benchmark for Venezuelan music in recent years and this has been reflected in its nomination for the Pepsi Music Awards in 2023, following the release of its album Afro-Venezuelan (2022) which has projected them to other borders.
“I think that the evolution is quite significant, practically from heaven to earth, but it is also because we have taken it upon ourselves to learn more every day. We have traveled to the villages to do field work and gain knowledge,” said Belkys Figuera.
The director of the ensemble explained that the members seek to improve their performances more and more, either by perfecting their techniques such as vocal percussion or by adding new teachings to traditional repertoires.
The musicians hope that these concerts will also be an opportunity to bring Venezuelan migrants in Europe a chance to remember the traditions of their country.
“I invite you to join us in these concerts, in this beautiful process. We are very excited to be able to be with the people we haven’t seen for years and, above all, those people who miss Venezuela, so we can bring them that little piece of our music,” said García.
The B11 Ensemble is made up of César Alcalá, Nayaleth García, Víctor González, Manuel Herrera, Ivanna Lira, Benito Palacios, Adrián Peña, Deilyn Uzcátegui and its director, Belkys Figuera. All the coordinates of the concerts in Europe are on the group’s social networks and its fundraising campaign is available on the InCresc platform.
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2024-07-16 17:40:47
