Alí Primera

Alí Rafael Primera Rosell (31 October 1941 – 16 February 1985) was a Venezuelan musician, composer, poet, and political activist.

As Primera was still quite young when his father died, he travelled with his mother and two siblings through different towns on the Paraguaná Peninsula, including San José, Caja de Agua (where he graduated from elementary school), Las Piedras and finally La Vela de Coro, located near Punto Fijo.

It was in this town that Primera worked a number of odd jobs, from a shoeshiner at the age of 6 to a boxer, due to the miserable conditions his family lived in.

Among Alí's best known songs are "Paraguaná, paraguanera", "José Leonardo", "Techos de cartón", "Cruz Salmerón Acosta" (dedicated to the Venezuelan poet of the same name), "Reverón" (in memory of the Venezuelan painter Armando Reverón), "Flora y Ceferino", and "Canción mansa para un pueblo bravo ".

Alí played at factories, schools, union buildings, and, frequently, the Aula Magna of the Central University of Venezuela, his alma mater.

In Barquisimeto Primera met his future wife, Sol Musset, who herself had just won the "La Voz Liceista" contest and who subsequently appeared at the "Los Venezolanos primero" festival in 1977.

Before his death, Alí Primera had begun recording a new album at the end of 1984 that combined the recurring themes of his songs with beats that he had never used before such as the gaita from the Zulia State of Venezuela.

The concert, in which Primera included an interpretation of the National Anthem of Venezuela ("Gloria Al Bravo Pueblo"), was made to celebrate the anniversary of a radio show of Latin American protest music.