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<\/figure><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cAs Colombians have places to dance or play Cumbia or Merengue, or Cubans have places to dance Rumba, or let\u2019s say the Brazilians have places to play Samba or Choro or Forro, there\u2019s no place for Venezuelan musicians,\u201d says Mar\u00eda Fernanda Gonz\u00e1lez, known professionally as Mafer Bandola<\/a>, of the contemporary dance scene for New York City\u2019s various Latin American communities. \u201cIt was missing that.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n But she\u2019s trying to change that. A winner of the Audiofemme<\/em> 2022-23 Agenda Grant, Mafer Bandola is an instrumentalist, composer and pioneer within the Joropo Llanero genre, an Afro-Indigenous tradition from the High Plains of Venezuela. She\u2019s already known as an innovator occupying a unique place in her field, having performed at institutions like MassMoca, WOMAD, Womex, TED, NPR TinyDesk and more. Born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, she moved permanently to New York City this past year, where she began to teach dance workshops for her particular genre of music.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n That she is able to teach the dance to fellow Venezualians in New York City is integral to her mission. As she explains, Joropo means \u201cparty,\u201d but most importantly, \u201cparty doesn\u2019t happen without the work of the community.\u201d When she came to New York, she noticed that the people attending her performances were just \u201csitting to listen to the musicians playing and singing. And now I\u2019m trying to organize this… This is music that you can dance to, but you have to learn how, so I started teaching.\u201d While these workshops are open to anyone, she says she would \u201cspecifically like to connect with Venezuelans. I\u2019ve been teaching Venezuelans who have been living here for the last 30 years, and they felt that they didn\u2019t have this space even to learn, or even to meet and talk about what they are doing.\u201d Furthermore, she places great emphasis on teaching the children of these immigrants, so that the tradition can be passed on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Joropo is a mix of indigenous, African and Spanish traditions, one rooted in resistance. As she explains, \u201cduring colonialism in Venezuela, enslaved indigenous and African peoples saw their own Spanish enslavers dance waltzes inside their mansions. As a joke, they created their own dance, making fun of the waltz by exaggerating its movement. Thus, Joropo was born as a kind of resistance against the oppression of the enslavers.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n With her grant, she envisions a \u201cportable community house\u201d of music, song and dance, a multicultural meeting point of Venezualan immigrants, musicians and the general public in New York City, which has become an epicenter of the Venezualan diaspora. Because of the economic crisis in Venezuela, she notes that the recent exodus out of the country is the largest migration that has existed in the history of the Western hemisphere. She says that by the end of 2021, 7 million have emigrated, which is only slightly less than the population of New York City itself (8.4 million). She sees the creation of a flexible community \u201cspace\u201d as being crucial to maintaining traditions of \u201cLa Venezolandidad Immigrante.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n So too does she inhabit an interesting intersection in this space \u2013 in general, women do not play the bandola in Venezuela. She is one of the only female players of this instrument in the world, and as such, she works to actively promote the integration of women who perform professionally using traditional Venezuelan instruments. In addition to the big ways she does this – actively creating community and teaching this style of music and dance – she does it in small ways everyday as well, oftentimes babysitting the children of fellow female musicians so that they can rehearse and gig. Being a woman in a male-dominated role can be isolating in any regard, but especially when you are one of the first to do so.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cIt\u2019s been really challenging for me to actually create a path for oral tradition and professional musicians, because I didn\u2019t have that role to follow in Venezuela,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is no female adult playing this instrument professionally. So when I received this grant with this idea, that actually is helping me to be at peace with my traditions, because somehow, I don\u2019t represent my traditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Her \u201cportable community house\u201d is already underway, in some respects \u2013 every fourth Sunday, Mafer Bandola hosts Pipiris Nights at Barb\u00e9s<\/a> in South Slope, both in-person and streaming online. Those who’d like to join the party – and support her mission – can catch her next Joropo event is this Sunday, May 22.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n