Venezuelan merengue

In Caracas, the term merengue rucaneao designated a way of dancing with couples holding and often featuring exaggerated hip movements (which added to the craze and subsequent controversy).

The name "cañoneros" comes from their marketing approach, which included firing a carbide charge from a blank cannon made of a thick, hollowed-out bamboo cane.

This is the way that traditional musicians used to prefer it as the notation is less busy, but it assumes familiarity with the unique swing of Venezuelan merengue.

Regardless of notation, the juxtaposition of 3 against 2 is a very common theme that pervades Venezuelan music and is found in most of its forms, from joropo, to the myriad of Afro-Venezuelan drumming patterns.

Saxophonist-composer Daniel Milano Mayora penned quite a few merengues, both for popular interpretation as well as virtuoso solo piano pieces.

Guitarist-composer Antonio Lauro wrote what is believed to be the first piece in the form for solo classical guitar, simply entitled Merengue (1945).

Perhaps the best hope for the preservation of the form lies in the labor of active musicians that continue to compose, perform and teach merengue in other countries.

Guitarist Aquiles Báez, multi-instrumentalist and educator Jackeline Rago, Canadian-based Ensemble Çavana, and the aforementioned Barradas and Gurrufío all are active practitioners of Venezuelan music worldwide.