Hailing from Venezuela, Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo made their New York debut at GlobalFest  last year. The group’s electrifying live set, complete with pitch perfect harmonies, dazzling dancers, and irresistible rhythms earned them legions of new fans and a feature in the next days’s New York Times.

We sat down with Betsayda with her manager Juan Souki and learned more about the Afro-Venezuelan tradition. She talks us through a few tracks on their first album,  Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree, which is available through the Indiegogo campaign that brought them here.