Interview with Larry & Joe on NPR’s Here & Now in Boston’s WBUR studios
This segment aired on Here & Now November 17, 2023. Original article available at wbur.org.
Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela, and is a legend of Llanera music. By age 6, Bellorín became a shoe shiner and built a faithful clientele by singing as he polished, taking requests for the popular Vallenatos of the day. He eventually caught the attention of a local music educator who invited him to study at the city’s premiere music school. His first instrument was the cuatro, a four-string guitar with Spanish roots central to the Venezuelan identity and typically the first instrument a folk musician is taught there. By age 11, Bellorín was supporting himself through music alone, and by age 13, he was honored as first cuatrista for the local Casa de Cultura — becoming proficient on many other instruments during this time. “I played so much, I would wake up hunched over my harp,” he recalls.
In 1999, Bellorín was invited to perform alongside Venezuelan cultural treasure Renaldo Armas at the Punta de Mata’s Parque Ferial — where he was introduced to the crowd of more than 8,000 people as “el maestro Larry Bellorín.” He went on to accompany countless Venezuelan musical luminaries, including Cristina Maica, Teo Galindez and Rumi Olivo. While touring the country as a performer, he and his wife opened Casa Vieja, a school dedicated to teaching Música Llanera. In three years, he taught nearly 500 students and launched Monagas’ first Musicá Llanera festival. In 2012, Venezuela began to collapse, and Bellorín was forced to seek asylum in the United States. He immigrated to North Carolina with only $30 in his pocket and worked in construction to make ends meet.
Originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Grammy-nominated bluegrass and old-time musician Joe Troop spent a decade living and working in Buenos Aires, Argentina — touring across South and Central America with his acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache. When the pandemic unexpectedly stranded him back in his home state, Troop was forced into musical hiatus, shifting instead into working with asylum-seeking migrants. That’s when Larry met Joe.
Born continents and cultures apart, this dynamic duo delivers a captivating fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas and more. Together, their stories converge through a unique blend of musical traditions — demonstrating that music truly knows no borders.
