As an artesan, Javier Marin works with a variety of materials, employing many techniques to create his pieces. He has been kind enough to take the time to explain some of these materials and processes. Javier’s father, in the days well before email, used to transmit telegraph messages via morse code in the building adjacent to where his son now works.

Ecological awareness is universal these days, especially among young people. Javier explains his own use of natural and biological materials, a use that does not involve the destruction of any living creatures, but rather the reuse of materials that have been jettisoned by their original animal owners.

Vela, a word often used for “candle,” or “sail,” can also mean “wakefulness,” as in “vigilance.” It’s related to the verb velar, “to stand watch.” The name of the port city of La Vela de Coro refers not to the “sails” of merchant ships (as many assume) but rather to this town’s role as a “lookout” point for marauding pirates. One-eyed peg-legs are now less common, but the carnivalesque annual festival of Los Locos continues on.

Most English speakers have at some time in their lives heard Donovan sing “The Hurdy Gurdy Man,” but how many knew what such a man did? The woman in this video talks about a musical family that used to play the sinfonía, and indeed this is the Spanish name for the hand-crank organ known as a “hurdy gurdy.”

It’s quite possible that El Día de Los Locos, as celebrated in La Vela de Coro, has its roots as far back as the Roman Empire, which celebrated Saturnalia at the same time of year. Both festivals, historically, involve turning the social order on its head, with slaves dressing like their masters.

La Vela is a small town in the state of Falcón, on the northwest coast of Venezuela, where every December 28th Los Locos [“The Crazy Ones”] arrive wearing colorful and elaborated costumes. The whole town becomes a party, with businesses closing and people dancing in the streets. It’s a tradition that could be in any magical realism novel and that desperately struggles to not fall into oblivion.

It's your opportunity to learn how to make some beautiful ocarinas. Their sound is so sweet!

Yabla introduces us to Yepez, a painter from Venezuela.

Luis receives a class in the basics of astrology, a science which utilizes the location of the planets when individuals are born and may help us to make decisions about specific aspects of our lives during specific periods.

As the fifteenth birthday of young girls in Venezuela and most other Latin American countries marks a special rite of passage into womanhood, it is traditional for the family to throw them a big birthday bash.

Welcome to Miami's Calle Ocho, a street in Miami which allows us to catch a glimpse not only of Cuban culture, but also the various other Latin American cultures which merge and congregate there.

Lifelong mariachi artists explain their passion for the mariachi music and way of life.

Yolimar Gimon, one of the ten finalists in the "Mrs. Venezuela" contest in 2012, tells us a bit about how the contest gives the chance to a bit more mature women to prove their abilities outside of the home as well as what her participation in the contest meant to her.

Learn vocabulary helpful for meeting new people and even inviting them out in Cleer's casual interview with Giluancar, a Venezuelan who has recently arrived in Germany.

Antonio shares with us some fascinating facts about rumba, a popular Cuban rhythm, from its African roots to its influence on other musical genres.

What is candombe? In this episode from Sonido Babel [Babel Sound], we'll travel to Uruguay to find out more about this musical style that is influenced by more than twenty different African cultures as well as the indigenous Charrúas and Guaranis, the Spanish, and the Portuguese.

Let's discover yet another upbeat Colombian musical genre with Antonio, porro, by listening to its melody and witnessing how it is danced.

In this episode of Sonido Babel [Babel Sound], we'll learn a bit about the origin and history of rap music. We've even invited rapper Junior High to join us, who'll help you learn more Spanish with a very special rap.

Babel Music introduces us to the quitiplás, a fascinating musical instrument from Mestizo America that is made of bamboo and comes in different sizes and pitches.

In this episode of Sonido Babel, we'll learn about plena: a musical genre from Puerto Rico that is played with a multitude of different instruments and deals with a plethora of topics from religion, events, recipes, advice, and even superstitions.

In this episode of Sonido Babel [Babel Sound], we are introduced to Venezuela's national instrument: the cuatro, which can be heard in almost all Venezuelan folk music.

In this second part of our series on the Venezuelan cuatro, musician Leonardo Lozano explains to us how the manner in which this traditional instrument is played varies between geographical regions.

In this third part of the series on the Venezuelan cuatro, Leonardo Lozano shares with us the names and functions of some of the parts that comprise it.

In the ballad "Será" [It will be], famed Venezuelan vallenato singer Jorge Celedón and Latin Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Franco De Vita team up to sing about love.