2 Performances: 11:00am & 12:15pm.

Even in South America, Venezuela’s musical riches tend to be overshadowed by the styles of neighboring Colombia, Brazil and Argentina. But in the Bay Area, the nation’s fabulous cultural wealth, with its fertile intermingling of indigenous, European and African influences, has found bountiful expression through the tireless efforts of Jackeline Rago. A percussion expert and master of the diminutive four-string cuatro, Venezuela’s national instrument, Rago has assembled a brilliant cast of collaborators in the Venezuelan Music Project including percussionists Omar Ledezma and Braulio Barrera. Together they explore folkloric Venezuelan forms such as joropo and merengue (not to be confused with the popular Dominican dance style of the same name).