UNESCO's Recognition: The Music That Unites Colombia and Venezuela

In 2017, UNESCO inscribed the "Colombian-Venezuelan llano work songs" on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The joint nomination—submitted by both countries together—recognized what the llanero cowboys of the Orinoco plains have always known: this music belongs to both nations equally.

The Llano and Its Music

The Llanos—the vast tropical grasslands straddling Colombia and Venezuela—have never respected national borders. Cowboys (llaneros) have worked these plains for centuries, developing a distinctive culture of cattle herding, horsemanship, and music.

The work songs (cantos de trabajo de llano) emerged from this life. Sung while herding cattle, milking, and crossing rivers, they combine African, indigenous, and Spanish influences into something uniquely Llanero—and equally Colombian and Venezuelan.

Joropo: The Shared National Dance

Joropo is to the Llanos what tango is to Buenos Aires: a defining cultural expression. But unlike tango, which belongs to Argentina (and Uruguay), joropo belongs equally to Colombia and Venezuela.

The dance and its music—featuring harp, cuatro (four-stringed guitar), and maracas—is Venezuela's national dance while being equally beloved in Colombia's Llanos region. When a joropo plays, you cannot tell which side of the border you're on.

Vallenato's Cross-Border Reach

Colombia's vallenato—the accordion-driven music of the Caribbean coast—was inscribed as UNESCO heritage in 2015. While distinctly Colombian in origin, its popularity has spread across Venezuela, "extending its reach" as UNESCO noted, into the neighboring country.

This isn't cultural imperialism; it's natural diffusion across a region that shares language, history, and sensibility.

What UNESCO Recognized

The joint nomination for llano work songs was significant. It required both governments to agree that this heritage belonged to both nations—that the border between them was arbitrary when it came to culture.

This is official recognition of a reality that Gran Colombia advocates have long insisted upon: these are not two foreign nations with separate cultures. They are one cultural region artificially divided.

Music as Integration

Cultural ties are the foundation on which political and economic integration can be built. The EU didn't emerge from nothing; it built on centuries of shared European culture, philosophy, and artistic tradition.

Gran Colombia has these foundations too. The music of the llanos, the food of the Caribbean coast, the Spanish language, the Catholic heritage, the Bolivarian mythology—all provide cultural cement for potential political structures.

When UNESCO recognizes Colombian-Venezuelan heritage, it's not just preserving tradition. It's documenting the cultural unity that makes political unity possible.