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In the middle of the April 11-14, 2002 coup, Lloviznando Cantos premiered its theme Y bajaron "a kind of prayer dedicated to those who live on the hills around Caracas and who came down to the area around Miraflores Palace wearing sandals, T-shirts, and even dressing gowns to demand the return of their president. The coup supporters, puzzled with the warm reception given to the song, thought they were a foreign music group.

Since then, the quartet, turned voice of the revolution, has flooded Venezuelan schools, parks and theaters with its songs. We even performed at the Apure carnivals, says lead singer Vilma Garces, and at several venues in Latin America and Europe.

"Lloviznando Cantos" says it has the aesthetics of commitment, and that it collects its best verses on the street, "from what people talk about." They come from the Latin American seed fertilized by voices such as Mercedes Sosa and Leon Gieco, with the revolutionary mystic of Víctor Jara and Venezuelan Ali Primera "one of whose verses they adopted as the groups name", and especially to the songs of Cubans Carlos Puebla, Silvio Rodriguez, Sara Gonzalez, and Vicente Feliu.

Testifying to this statement are titles such as Mi Comandante se queda, Consentida del Libertador "dedicated to Bolivia", En memoria a Danilo Anderson, Hombre sur, and Fidel Castro en su día, a poem by Aquiles Nazoa set to music for the 80th birthday of the Cuban leader, and premiered in Caracas, after the announcement of his illness in July 2007.

Like warriors in campaign, which is what they are, the members of Lloviznando Cantos only carry a guitar, a bass and light percussion, and their best recordings have been made in a small studio of hardly two square meters, which Vilma and her husband Wilson Barba, the groups arranger, composer, and musical director, improvised in what used to be their kitchen.

"We permanently clash with the culture that comes from abroad, says Vilma, with consumerism and globalization. Thats the reason why you see us on the streets, but not on television, or signing contracts with record companies. But people learn our lyrics quickly and sing them, which is what were interested in, and what inspires us to carry on."

(www.granma.co.cu)



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