The lead members of the two-time Latin Grammy Award-winning combo C4 Trío are specialists in the cuatro, a long-necked four-stringed miniature guitar that shimmers with percussive energy. The cuatro is of particular importance in C4’s home country of Venezuela, where it is generally acknowledged as the national instrument.

Héctor Molina, Jorge Glem, Edward Ramírez, and Rodner Padilla comprise this special group with an unusual setup: three cuatros and one electric bass.

Over the past 20 years, the C4 Trío has taken traditional Venezuelan music and mixed it with styles like jazz, Latin music, pop, and world music. This makes their performances exciting and easy to enjoy, even for students hearing this kind of music for the first time. Their creativity and skill show how one simple instrument — the cuatro — can do amazing things.

Get ready to listen, move, and discover how big a small instrument can sound.