Jackeline Rago
- Musical Director, Cuatro, Percussion, Lead Vocals
Jackeline Rago is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer and educator who specializes in Venezuelan folk music as well as music from other Latin American and Caribbean countries.
She was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and began playing Venezuelan music at the age of four. Before coming to the United States, she spent years studying the Folk-Venezuelan Cuatro (the national string instrument of Venezuela) and classical mandolin at The Caracas Philarmonic Orchestra Conservatory. Her Afro-Venezuelan percussion studies took place in Venezuela with master percussionist Alexander Livinalli and Hector Pacheco from the Fundacion Bigott (Venezuela's Folkloric Institute). In 1989, Jackeline graduated with a B.A. from the Music & Arts Institute of San Francisco, CA, majoring in classical mandolin.
Jackeline Rago is the artistic and musical director of the “Venezuelan Music Project” as well as the “VNote Ensemble” (A Fusion of Jazz & Venezuelan Music; www.vnoteensemble.com) bands which she travels and performs with in an ongoing basis. Currently, she teaches Afro-Venezuelan percussion at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, children's world music at Escuela Bilingue Internacional in Berkeley CA, and a Latin American music ensemble at the French American International School, in San Francisco.
Just recently, Rago received the “Award of Excellence in Music“ given by the Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts in its 30th Anniversary, in San Francisco, CA. Additionally, Jackeline is a recipient of awards and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, California Arts Council, Meet the Composer/Readers Digest Commissioning Program, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation and AIM (Adventures in Music program sponsored by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra). Furthermore, Rago was an Artist in Residence of the State of California from 1989 to 2001.
Jackeline Rago has performed and recorded with master Venezuelan musicians such as Marco Granados, Aquiles Baez, Alexander Livinallli, Gonzalo Teppa, Claudia Calderon, Leo Blanco and Gonzalo Grau as well as US performances and recording sessions with master musicians such as John Santos, Linda Tillery, Dr. Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Holly Near and many more.
Jackeline Rago has toured extensively within the United States and internationally for over 20 years showcasing the music of Latin America with an emphasis in Venezuelan Folk Music. To learn more about Jackeline Rago please visit www.jackelinerago.com.
