Saturday, February 25, 2023
1:00 pm EST
WPAC Concert Hall
$15 general, $10 senior/FIU faculty, staff, & alumni, $5 student
2023 MIGF Festival Pass
is available to attend all festival events at a single reduced price: $100 general, $70 senior/FIU faculty, staff, & alumni, $30 student
Edward Ramírez is one of the most prolific and sought after cuatro players from Venezuela. He’s also a producer and composer. He’s part of C4 Trio and El Tuyero Ilustrado, both Grammy and Latin Grammy nominees and winners. He was also part of the musical productions Venezuela Viva and Orinoco, that toured to Holland, the United States, Germany, Edinburgh and London.
Throughout his career, Edward has established himself as one of the most versatile and creative soloist figures of his generation. He won third place in the 2004 and 2005 editions of the International Contest La Siembra del Cuatro, the most important competition of cuatro in Venezuela and the world.
Since 2005, he’s a founding member of C4 Trio, a venezuelan music reference that has brought the sound of venezuelan cuatro around the world.
In September 2012, he was selected by the North American organization OneBeat to participate in his music exchange program with artists from 30 countries around the world, with Ramírez being the only Spanish speaker. The program included two weeks of residency and music creation at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida and two weeks of touring several cities in the eastern United States. During the exchange, Edward shared stage and musical knowledge with figures such as bassist Gregg August, percussionist Dafnis Prieto and multinstrumentist Mark Stewart. OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
In 2013, his first solo album Parroquia was released along with Roberto Koch (double bass) and Carlos “Nené” Quintero (percussion), which includes nine songs composed especially for Venezuelan cuatro. A year later, he presented to the public his live album Cuatro, maraca y buche, in which he presented his metal strings cuatro that seeks to emulate the sound of the harp in the joropo tuyero. For that, he had great figures and maestros of the genre as special guests.
In 2015, he was the first instrumental solo musician to win “Artist of the Year” at the Pepsi Music Awards in Venezuela.
In 2016, together with Rafael Pino, he formed El Tuyero Ilustrado. A project that studies joropo tuyero giving it a new, more urban nuance, with current lyrics. Their self-titled album was nominated for Best Folk Album at the Latin Grammys in 2017. They have toured the United States, Latin American and Europe.
C4 Trio presented their album with Luis Enrique, Tiempo al Tiempo, in 2019. The album won 2 Latin Grammys: Best Folk album and Best Arrangement for the single “Sirena”.
In 2022, C4 Trio presented Back to 4, a 100 % instrumental album with the venezuelan cuatro as the main character. The album, co-produced by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League, was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the “Best Instrumental Album” category.
He’s part of the generation of Venezuelan musicians that’s changing the way youth see traditional Venezuelan music. He’s currently composing new music and putting together a solo project that includes the sound processing of the instrument.
Edward Ramirez YouTube Channel
Edward Ramirez’s participation is co-sponsored by the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs.
