“It wasn’t easy to be black and poor in Caracas”, said Nelly Ramos, founder of the Grupo Madera, and one of the few original members who was not aboard the boat that was swallowed by the Orinoco River, taking the lives of 11 members of the band in a tragedy that, to this day, has not been properly investigated.

Mixing Afro-Venezuelan songs and rhythms from Barlovento with the more contemporary Latin music you would hear in the city’s popular communities, Madera was not only a musical experiment, but a social project that educated hundreds of kids who are still making music today. In the suite “Ritual”, we hear recitations, mina and culo ‘e puya drums, and a call and response accompanied by African polyrhythms that embody the tensions and richness of Afro-Venezuelan culture.