Eliana Cuevas Venezuelan Duo with Luis Anselmi

Hailed as “a major international talent that’s on its way” by the Toronto Star, Venezuelan vocalist Eliana Cuevas performs dynamic songs that defy expectations of Latin music.

Eliana has toured across Canada and abroad collaborating with Juno and Grammy Award-winning performers, and she has released 8 albums of original Latin music under her name: Cohesión (2001), Ventura (2004) Vidas (2007), Espejo (2013), Golpes y Flores (2017), El Curruchá (2021), Seré Libre (2023) and, most recently, Mi Pequeña (2025).

Eliana has created a new duo project , a Venezuelan Duo, featuring voice and cuatro, Venezuela’s national instrument. She is joined by Luis Anselmi, a brilliant cuatro player and mentor of the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation, a rising star in the Canadian and Venezuelan musical landscape.

They feature a unique and very soulful take on Latin American music with a focus on Venezuelan folkloric repertoire. Their music is Jazz-infused, acoustic, and it showcases a mix of original compositions and some of the most beloved Venezuelan traditional songs.

Their performances are playful, adventurous, spontaneous and very moving at times, allowing their audience to experience a wide range of emotions.

Eliana stresses that “the focus of this project is the cuatro and Venezuelan music—A universe of sounds and rhythms as rich and broad as the music from Cuba and Brazil but not as widely known.”

This is a project of bare-bones and honesty: voice and cuatro. Stripped of excess, what remains is the marrow of Venezuelan songcraft—the warm timbre of Eliana’s voice intertwining with the mercurial cuatro. In this intimate format, every nuance counts; every breath and every pluck is a confession.

Eliana’s extraordinary vocal prowess is on full display in this duo setting, showcasing the vocal chops that have been captivating audiences around the world for years while the cuatro roars, whispers, cries, and is transformed into an ”arpa llanera”. On stage, this project opens a window into Venezuela, Eliana’s native land, in a mesmerizing display of versatility, creating an exhibit of her experiences through music, bringing her songs and stories to life.

Eliana has never been constrained by genre boxes in her songwriting, drawing freely from jazz, Latin, folk and world music elements, and her eclectic discography has brought her multiple wins at the National Jazz Awards, Toronto Independent Music Awards, Canadian Folk Music Awards, and the Independent Music Awards in the US.

For audiences, Eliana’s Venezuelan Duo offers not just music but a journey: a reminder that Venezuela, even in exile, sings on with clarity, humour, tenderness, and fire.