Ismael Querales set off to another level with his band, leaving his music as a legacy

Published at: 21/09/2026 10:06 AM

The musician, composer, singer and researcher, José Ismael Querales, set off with his band to another plane on the night of this Sunday, September 20, but he leaves a deep mark and a musical legacy in the recent history of national culture.

Born in Caracas in 1953 and recognized with the 2021-2022 National Culture Award, Querales dedicated more than five decades to preserving, studying and renewing the country's popular sounds.

He also devoted much of his career to the Venezuelan band in its llanera, central and eastern variants. His work as a performer and researcher allowed him to explore the expressive possibilities of this instrument and, at the same time, to build bridges between tradition, joropo, popular songs and new musical searches.

His name was also linked to important Venezuelan music projects, such as Un Solo Pueblo, a group of which he founded and from which he contributed to the dissemination of traditional expressions in the country.

In addition, he participated in initiatives such as Venezuelan Popular Song, Pasacalle, Rucaneo del Mabil, Cántaro and the National Foundation for the Development of Traditional Culture (FUNDATRADICIONES). In turn, he created La Banda de la Bandola and developed the Mastranto Jazz proposal, from where he took the instrument to new spaces for sound experimentation .

As a composer, he left pieces that are part of his artistic legacy, including Suite Gallinacea, La Mañosera de Guama, Un Segundo de Lucero, Flores para Juan Esteban, La Niña Azul, El Vuelo e' la Pájara and A Luis Miranda.

His recording career was also marked by collaborations with leading exponents of Venezuelan and Caribbean music, including Luis Mariano Rivera, Cecilia Todd, Lilia Vera, Ilan Chester, Simón Díaz, Gualberto Ibarreto, Serenata Guayanesa and Francisco Pacheco.

In addition to creation and interpretation, he added important pedagogical work as an instructor of bandola, maracas and traditional singing, with which he contributed to the formation of new generations of musicians and cultivators.

With his departure, Venezuela dismisses an artist who made the band a way of counting and feeling the country. His legacy remains in his compositions, recordings, research and teaching, but also in the musicians he formed, in the groups he helped to build and in those who found in his work a way to approach Venezuelan memory and musical identity.

MINCULTURA/Mazo News Team