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Peter Rima plays the arpa
(folk harp) of the Colombian/Venezuelan region of Los Llanos, the plains
of the Orinoco River basin in southeastern Colombia and southwestern Venezuela.
In both countries, the attraction of música
llanera (plains music) transcends region and social class, and is
loved nationally, thanks in part to diffusion through recordings and radio.
Rima is from Bogotá and learned to play from recordings, much as
jazz musicians in the United States often learn from masters through records.
In Miami, Peter Rima directs a llanera ensemble called “Morichal,”
which refers to a type of palm tree in Los Llanos. This group includes
both Colombians and Venezuelans. Like jazz students in the U.S. who seek
out masters they first met through recordings, Rima contacts llanera masters
invited for brief residencies at the Alma Llanera Restaurant in Miami,
which is owned by renowned Venezuelan llanera singer Reinaldo Armas. The
best masters, in Rima’s consideration, are Venezuelan.
Rima has a great interest in South American harps and Colombian folk
instruments in general. Among the instruments in his collection are Colombian,
Peruvian, and Paraguayan harps; the four-stringed bandola (a relative
of the mandolin), cuatro,
and capachos (small maracas) of música llanera; and a Hohner
button accordion and other instruments associated with Colombian vallenato
music.
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Peter Rima with cuatro.
Photograph by Martha Ellen Davis.
With arpa llanera.
Photograph by Martha Ellen Davis.
With bandola.
Photograph by Martha Ellen Davis. |
