When Venezuela claimed victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic this March, a particular moment captured widespread attention: pitcher Eduard Bazardo beating a drum in the dugout as teammates clapped and danced around him. This spontaneous celebration highlighted tambores, a traditional Venezuelan dance rooted in the country’s colonial period, and has helped spark renewed interest in the art form among the Venezuelan diaspora.
Tambores, meaning “drums” in Spanish, originated in the 17th century among enslaved workers on cacao and coffee plantations. The dance involves participants entering and exiting a circle, moving to the rhythm of wooden drums covered with animal skin. Though less internationally recognized than Latin dances such as salsa or merengue, tambores has become an increasingly prominent cultural expression among Venezuelans living abroad. The migration of millions since 2014—approximately eight million people—with nearly 800,000 in the United States alone, has contributed to a resurgence of interest in the dance and its accompanying music.
New York City will host its fourth annual tambores event on June 20 at Lincoln Center as part of the “Summer for the City” festival. The program will feature a traditional drumming procession and culminate with call-and-response songs and dancing on Hearst Plaza. Jeickov Vital, founder of the traveling musical group Tambores Bombayá, will perform and lead workshops, highlighting the dance’s growing appeal in U.S. communities.
Experts and members of the diaspora attribute this cultural revival, in part, to a desire among Venezuelans abroad to affirm a positive national identity amid political and social turmoil at home. Vital noted that amid negative portrayals linked to the Nicolás Maduro regime and associated criminal groups, many Venezuelans have sought to reclaim and promote their shared heritage. Mariana Martin Capriles, a New York-based DJ known as MPeach, observed that tambores has been experiencing a renaissance within Venezuela’s urban nightlife, amplified tenfold in the diaspora, fostering pride in a tradition born of the country’s Afro-Venezuelan communities.
Historically, the Festival San Juan Bautista, honoring Saint John the Baptist, is closely associated with tambores. Celebrated near the summer solstice, it likely offered one of the few days off to enslaved workers. During the festival, a wooden statue of Saint John is paraded, followed by communal dancing where participants demonstrate the characteristic hip gyrations and rhythmically intense movements of tambores.
For much of Venezuela’s history, Afro-Venezuelan culture, including tambores, was marginalized and confined largely to coastal regions. This began to change in the 1980s as musical groups popularized folkloric songs nationwide and coastal towns such as Choroní developed tourism centered on the tradition. The ongoing Venezuelan diaspora has further propelled tambores onto international stages, providing social spaces for Venezuelans who are often geographically dispersed without defined ethnic neighborhoods.
In New York, groups like Tambor y Caña, co-founded by Willie Quintana in 2017, have engaged new arrivals, including those living in shelters, by offering opportunities to connect through drumming and dance. The diaspora’s growing visibility led to a San Juan procession across the Williamsburg Bridge in 2022, which caught the attention of Lincoln Center’s Latin music curator Carlos Chirinos. The institution subsequently invited Quintana to headline its San Juan Festival in 2023, reinforcing efforts to recognize the culture of Black Venezuelans and Afro-descendant New Yorkers.
The influence of tambores extends beyond traditional performances into contemporary music scenes. DJs like MPeach and Dennis Gutierrez incorporate tambor rhythms into electronic and club music, marrying ancient beats with modern genres. Similarly, Venezuelan musician Orestes Gómez blends tambores with jazz, hip-hop, and Afro-Caribbean styles in an exploration of diasporic themes.
While some purists express reservations about the evolving forms of tambores, scholars emphasize that oral traditions have always adapted through time. Carlos Chirinos suggests that the survival of tambores depends on its capacity to reach new audiences and transform, rather than remain static.
As tambores gains wider recognition, both in Venezuela and abroad, it is becoming more than a cultural artifact—it is a dynamic symbol of identity, resilience, and community for Venezuelans worldwide.