High voltage Venezuelan harp.

• Author: Holston, Mark
• Position: Music

It was just another casual outing for an eight year old boy and his father, but for Caracas native Carlos Guedes, it may have been the most important trip of his life. At a bustling street corner in the Venezuelan capital, the youngster stopped to marvel at sounds he had never before heard -- the rhythmically robust, majestic waves of notes produced by a single musician on an instrument Carlos was seeing for the first time.

It was the Arpa Llanera (llanera harp), one of Venezuela's most distinctive folk instruments, interpreting the joropo music of the countryside. The youth was enthralled. "This is what I want to play," he announced to his father, who suspected the fascination would eventually fade like other childhood dreams. But the dream quickly became an obsession, and the Caracas boy would grow up to become one of his nation's most celebrated modern musicians.

By the time he got his first harp and started formal lessons at age 11, Carlos was already something of an accomplished musician. By age five, he had begun to learn how to play the fourstring cuatro, a small guitar native to his country. Expertise on the full-size Spanish guitar and bass followed. Like many other aspiring Venezuelan musicians, Carlos also sang and played a variety of percussion instruments. Indeed, his many talents and dark good looks almost succeeded in detouring him from his self-appointed musical mission in life. By choosing to remain true to his goals, Carlos may have passed up a chance at popular stardom.

"CBS Records in Venezuela was looking for a young singer who played the guitar," Carlos recalls. An executive with the company pressed Guedes to take the offer. "He said, 'Carlos, I can make you famous,' but I told him, 'No, I don't want that image.'"

By the time he had graduated from high school, Carlos' obsession to master the harp literally ruled his day-to-day life. "For almost two years," he remembers, "I told my mother and father that I needed to practice as much as I could. So, I was practicing all day, just taking time out for quick meals. After dinner, I'd practice some more and then go to bed. I didn't watch TV. I didn't want to go out with my friends. I didn't go out with my girl friend. Nothing! Every time they called, I told my mother to tell them I wasn't there! I did that for almost two years because I wanted to be the best harpist in the world."

The music that Guedes fell in love with is the product of a culture deeply steeped in Old World...