Mi Burrito Sabanero: Venezuelan Christmas carol among the 100 best in history

The carol My Sabanero Burrito It is very popular in Latin America. It was composed in 1972 by the Venezuelan Hugo Blanco, although its most popular version was recorded in 1975, by a group from the Venezuelan Children’s Choir known as The Rondallita.

The song narrates the journey of a boy to Bethlehem riding his little donkey, guided by a morning star, with the intention of seeing the baby Jesus. The lyrics highlight traditional Venezuelan elements and have been performed by various artists and children’s groups over the years.

The lyrics highlight traditional elements of Venezuela such as the “cuatrico”, a typical four-stringed musical instrument, or the “savanna” – which gives the song its name – and which refers to the country’s extensive plains.

Blanco was born in Caracason September 25, 1940. From a very young age he was interested in traditional Venezuelan music. Among his most recognized songs in the country, the iconic Grinding Coffeewritten in 1958, although Blanco disputes authorship with his uncle José Manzo Perroni.

Shortly after composing My Sabanero Burritothe carol was performed by the renowned Venezuelan music singer-songwriter Simón Díaz, but Blanco thought “that it sounded better in the voices of children, children’s voices.” as he told the BBC Aguasanta Márquez, current director of the Venezuelan Children’s Choir.

It is then that Blanco decides to contact the Venezuela Children’s Choir, especially its famous arranger Raúl Cabrera, who was also its director in those days.

“What Professor Cabrera did was the choral montage, the musical arrangement for a children’s choral montage. Hugo Blanco chooses with the teacher (Cabrera) the children who are going to record My Sabanero Burrito”explains Márquez.

The main voice was that of Ricardo Cuenci, 8 years old at the time, who assured the British network that music was an essential part of his life from a very young age.

“When I was 4 or 5 years old, my dad participated in a llanera music group. I would grab a matchbox, put nails in it and start playing maracas because I saw the others playing maracas,” he said.

Now 57 years old, he remembers how he was chosen to perform the Christmas carol: “I started humming in the hallways of the studio and singing.” The Sabanero Burrito. Then they come out and listen to what I’m singing and since I knew I had how to sing it, I sang it,” Cuenci said.

About the success of the song and the impact it has for so many people around the world, Cuenci Indian which lies in its ability to make everyone filled “with joy, satisfaction, hope, encouragement, enthusiasm, never losing faith. If it weren’t like that, it would have already disappeared, but for some reason it keeps ringing.”

Raúl Cabrera was in charge of spreading the carol, says Márquez: “When the album was published, Maestro Cabrera worked in a record store that belonged to his father. And he was the one who took the records to jukeboxes all over the country. And what did he do? He began to insert the Sabanero burrito record so that they could start playing it on the jukeboxes,” he explained.

From that moment on, My Sabanero Burrito He began to gain fame, first in Caracas and then throughout Latin America.

“From there, La Rondallita began to become famous abroad, especially in Puerto Rico. La Rondallita traveled to Puerto Rico, but the funny thing is that the children who traveled are not the same ones who recorded. Ricardo Cuenci was not among those who traveled,” said Márquez.

This year, Billboard magazine ranked My Sabanero Burrito in position 96 of the 100 Best Christmas Songs of All Time:

“The children’s musical group La Rondallita endures, almost 50 years later. A simple but rhythmic Venezuelan popular song that has become a timeless classic in all Latin American countries and that injects nostalgia into every Christmas season,” the review reads.