Description
Shearsman Books Florentino and the devil by Alberto Alvelo Torrealba, Timothy Ades
El Contrapunteo de Florentino y El Diablo is one of the most popular poems from Los Llanos, the Plains of Venezuela. The legend goes that Florentino was the epitome of the great llanero: handsome, a great rider and cattleman, a ladies' man, but above all, a singer and poet. His improvisations (corrios, contrapunteos) were so fast and to the point that the Devil got jealous and challenged him to a night of singing. If the Devil wins before dawn, Florentino will go back with him to hell. Florentino's prize is simply to have defeated the Devil. There are sixteen types of joropo, and fifty-eight variations, to accompany this music. Cattlemen improvise every evening, as they settle for a song before going to bed...