In this first stage, Guaco was a traditional gaita group, without any electronic or non-typical elements, but in their lyrics and voice ensemble they hinted that they were looking for a contemporary sound in accordance with their personal tastes that chose between rock, sauce and soul.
Argenis participates singing specific themes in several of the albums from this stage, among them: Bubu Guaco in 1972; Let nobody move in 1975 and A grave and a bongo in 1978, the latter two composed by Ricardo Hernández.
The first of them was a composer, cuatrista, singer and natural leader, while the second stood out for being a composer and creative.1 At the beginning of the 70s the arrangements of the songs were in charge of Nerio Franco, a multi-instrumentalist who came from the Los Blanco orchestra and who began as the group's pianist.3 Starting in 1977, the young pianist and orchestra director José Luis García, who would later form the successful group Carángano, assumes the reins of the musical direction of the band.
Carlos Sánchez on bass, Romer Quintero and later Salvador Baglieri on guitar, Frank Velásquez on flute and sax from 1979 and a rhythm section that from 1978 included tamboras, conga and bongo.
Within this stage they also develop gaitas with lyrics that address contemporary issues such as drug use, poverty and pollution and others of a humorous nature whose most popular theme was "María La Bollera" (1976).
In this sense, the musician has declared: «The album Guaco 80 is mine; They are my arrangements and my songs.”4 The compositions that were most widely distributed were: «Homenaje a Jesús Lozano» and «Las Pulgas», in the voice of Amílcar Boscan.
He also highlighted the song dedicated to the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, "Chinita", whose arrangements and polyphonies gave it an air of modernity that contrasted with those gaita groups that never took risks and remained faithful to tradition.
It remains within the repertoire of this album, lyrics of social denunciation (an idea that has always been present in the founders of Guaco) with bagpipes such as: "La reforma", an old song by Mario Viloria that had been recorded on the 1970 LP where he addresses the problems that Maracaibo has suffered for years and that have never been solved and "Differendum" at the time when Venezuela and Guyana maintained a territorial dispute.
Another of the songs that had media coverage due to its intimate and romantic nature was: "I will continue to gaiteando", in the voice of Sundin Galué, where the topic of the pipers' wives who feel "threatened" by the way of life dissipated or committed to the art carried by musicians.
At this time, Guaco continues its modernization process, adding drums, a trumpet section, a trombone and violins under the executive production of the experienced Orlando Montiel.
The band is an obligatory reference throughout the national territory, their albums increase their sales exponentially and in December they give massive concerts in various venues in the country, including the Poliedro de Caracas.
Daniel Somaróo and Sundin Galúe take center stage as singers and Heriberto Molina, a former Guaco collaborator, contributes the bulk of the songs, composing six of the ten that make up the album.
The best-known songs of this production were performed by Gustavo Aguado: "Aguas de cristal" and "Virgen Guaquera" a bagpipe-aguinaldo dedicated to Chinita that included the participation of the group of singers from the Sonografica label: Franco De Vita Yordano, Ilan Chester, Colina (singer), Francisco Pacheco and Evio Di Marzo and it was a national success.
Four songs stood out and achieved wide diffusion within the country: "Fatal Attraction", "Let Nobody Move", "Sara" and "La Placita", the latter had a great media impact due to the participation of national artists: Cecilia Todd, Yordano, Elisa Rego, Sergio Pérez and Luz Marina.
Later they recorded the first two volumes of Guaco Clásico where they paused in their innovation process to record traditional Zulian bagpipe songs and included some versions of their songs from the early stages with less elaborate instrumentation adapted to the traditional bagpipe, but without ceasing to include elements of modernity: "The arrival of peace" (a duet with Luis Enrique) is the newest theme and the one that was promoted to the greatest extent.
The cycle with Sonorodven closes with the album Triceratops published in 1993 and which marks the entry of Jorge Luis Chacín from Zulia as performer, composer and arranger.
"Detail in false" (authored by Jorge Luis Chacín) together with "Las caraqueñas" (by José Quintero), both in the voice of Gustavo Aguado, make up one of the most versatile and successful albums of the band.
At this time Guaco opts for a more international sound that is a mixture where jazz, Latin rock and salsa are present: not only in the instrumentation but also in the rhythm of the key.
The following albums feature two trumpets, a trombone and a sax and songs that belong directly to Salsa begin to be covered, such as: Mi desengaño, Así son ponco, Remembranzas, Acere Bongo and Fuego en el 23 among others.
In 1997 the album Amazonas was published under the musical direction of Juan Carlos Salas, the promotional single was the song composed and sung by Jorge Luis Chacín "Si tú la viera".
Later in 1999 they recorded an album of versions of the band's hits with the addition of four unreleased songs, including the one composed by José Alfonzo Quiñones and performed by Gustavo Aguado "La turbulencia".
The album Equus, released in 2006, is mainly known for the song "Confusion" sung by Gustavo Aguado, which became the intro and farewell to the telenovela "Voltea pa' que te enamores" produced by the television channel Venevisión.
"I want to tell you" sung by Luis Fernando Borjas was the promotional theme.5 After more than 45 years of artistic career, the group released in 2012 the album Sculpture, nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards and which sold 150,000 copies, earning it a triple platinum record.
These singers from Caracas made their debut on the album Presente continuo, released in 2014, and in which the artists Fonseca, Víctor Manuelle, the Spanish flamenco singer Enrique Heredia Negri and the Cuban Isaac Delgado were invited.8 About this work Ricardo Portillo, a former member of the group ignited a controversy (through social networks) when he wrote: "The same as always, creativity vanishes", implying that with the repetition of formulas that have been successful, sometimes the results are not achieved expected artistic.
[7] In 2017 the documentary Guaco: Semblanza, directed by Alberto Arvelo, was released, the first film production made by the group followed by the concert with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.