Luis Alfonzo Larrain

Luis Alfonzo Larrain (born July 22, 1911 in La Victoria , † July 3, 1996 in Caracas ) was a Venezuelan composer and musician.

Larrain came to Caracas with his family in 1918. He composed his first song at the age of nine and, encouraged by his teacher Carlos Bonnet, founded his first orchestra in 1925 with Raúl Briceño (piano), Eduardo Serrano (drums), Alberto Muñoz (saxophone) and Rafael Uzcátegui (violin), with which he performed on private occasions . In 1927 he expanded it to a professional ensemble, the Orquesta Flava , which also included the trumpeter Federico Ayesta , the saxophonist Luis Guevara , the violinist Heber Hernández and the guitarist Antonio Lauro .

From 1930 Larrain worked for the radio. He played with his orchestra at the Caracas broadcaster and founded various ensembles for them, including La orquesta de conciertos , El Sexteto de cámara , La Apple Soul , La orquesta popular , Los negritos Locos , El trío Matanceros and the Orquesta para operetas with which he Performed music from classical to jazz and Latin American dance music. He also worked alongside actors such as Cecilia Martínez , Margot Antillano , Conchita Ascanio , Edgar J. Anzola and Ricardo Espina in dramatic productions for the station. At the same time he founded a vocal quartet with Graciela Naranjo , Ofelia Ramón , Enrique Alvarenga and Manolo Monterrey (later Fidel Peters ), which received great acclaim from music critics.

At the suggestion of Pedro Vargas , Larrain founded his own dance orchestra, with which he performed guarachas, boleros, danzones, foxtrots, waltzes, merengues and joropos and earned the title Mago de la música bailable . Singers such as Celia Cruz , Tony Camargo , Manolo Monterrey , Marco Tulio Maristany , Luisín Landáez , Memo Morales , Kiko Mendive , Mario Suárez , Hilda Salazar , Elisa Soteldo and Elio Rubio performed with the orchestra .

For the ensemble that became known as La Orquesta del Buen Tono , composers such as Aldemaro Romero , Aníbal Abreu , Chucho Sanoja , Eduardo Cabrera and Dámaso Pérez Prado wrote . Members of the orchestra included Rafael Velásquez ("El Gallo"), Leopoldo Escalante , "El Pavo" Frank Hernández , Cecilio Comprés , Pablo Armitano , César Viera , Germán Muñoz , Pedro Chaparro , Jesús Camacaro , George Lister and José Pérez Figuera .

In 1958, Larrain dissolved his orchestra and composed music for radio, television and film. He reactivated the orchestra in 1959 and worked with it again until 1961. He later founded his own recording studio. Since he recorded on acetate records, which can only be played back a few times, his recordings are practically no longer available. On the album Dulce et Picante by Alberto Naranjo there is a digitally remastered recording of Larrain and his orchestra as a bonus track. On the same album there is also a waltz composed by Larrain.

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