“This is Venezuela. This is the magic because every part of it, be it minute or vast, is enchanting in the eyes and heart.”
This caption in a picture of the Venezuelan archipelago sums up the experience of viewing the photographs and listening to the music of Venezuela.
In an exhibit at the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences entitled Venezuela Magic Land, Venezuelan landscape photographs were showcased. It was formally opened by Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Ambassador Milena Santana-Ramirez and Secretary-General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P.
Nature pervades Venezuelan art. The collection features almost 20 photographs featuring key tourist spots of Venezuela like national parks, clear bodies of water and unique landforms.
A photograph of Sierra Nevada shows a beautiful sunset casting a silhouette on the narrow river eclipsed by two high-peaked mountains, while the picture of Mitibo Valley captures an isolated disintegrating monobloc edifice in an uninhabited yellow plain.
Moreover, Henri Pittier, San Esteban, Saroche, and La Culata National parks feature the different exotic flora and fauna of Venezuela as well as its streams, waterfalls, rock formations, and caves.
Meanwhile, the opening of the exhibit last Sept. 19 was also highlighted by a presentation of Venezuelan music of A. Lauro, R. Hahn, M. E. Perez Diaz, J. V. Lecuna and M. Guadalajara.
Venezuelan music is restrained and not elaborate. It is mellow and soothing but precise in its details.
Jose Randy Gilongo, a multi-awarded tenor, sang the pieces of the Venezuelan masters. Najib Ismail, internationally-acclaimed chamber musician, collaborative artist, and solo performer, handled the piano and Sixto Carlos Roxas, who has participated in numerous recitals and concerts, played the guitar. The three are faculty members of the Conservatory of Music.
The magic of Venezuela lies in what it conceals, because it is then that one realizes that there is a spellbinding charm in the simplicity of nature and the subtlety of music. Myra Jennifer D. Jaud
