Guaco doesn’t travel light. The Maracaibo ensemble — 22 musicians carrying timbales, congas, charrasca, brass, strings, and electric guitars — arrives at House of Blues Houston on Wednesday, November 25 as part of the Nueva Era Tour. Their catalog runs more than six decades deep. They started in 1962 playing gaita zuliana — the percussion-driven folk music of Venezuela’s Zulia region — and never stopped adding. Salsa. Jazz. Funk. Rock. What they play now is its own genre. Venezuela has been calling it “Guaco music” for fifty years, which is as honest a description as any.
About Guaco
The band began in Maracaibo in 1962, when the Aguado brothers and friends started performing gaita zuliana, the traditional rhythm of western Venezuela, heavy on drums and percussion. The name they eventually adopted — Los Guacos del Zulia — came from a regional bird seen as a symbol of bad omens. The youthful nonconformity was in the name from the start. By the 1980s, the lineup had grown to more than twenty musicians, incorporating brass, strings, and electric guitars, and the band had begun touring internationally. International press settled on “Venezuela’s salsa masters” as shorthand, which was accurate as far as it went.
Founding director Gustavo Aguado still leads the ensemble. Current lead vocalists include Ángel Delgado, Frank Rojas, and Elahim Monicou. Classic tracks like “Sentimiento Nacional” and “Zapatero” have anchored their live show for decades. The collaborator list over the years — Rubén Blades, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cheo Feliciano — tells you what company they keep. A 2016 symphonic concert with conductor Gustavo Dudamel confirmed what most of Latin America had long accepted. They’ve won two Latin Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Tropical Album and they are still recording. Their most recent release, Sonido de Siempre, Voces de Hoy Vol. 2 — “Sound of Always, Voices of Today” — came out in March 2026 and anchors this tour’s setlist alongside the classics.
Venue Info
House of Blues Houston sits at 1204 Caroline St in Midtown, with a capacity of 1,800. It’s an A-list room with the layout and sound infrastructure that a touring ensemble of this size requires. Doors open ahead of a 7:00 PM showtime. No support act has been confirmed for the Houston date. For more Houston concerts this season, check our regional listings.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster. A Fast Lane Access add-on is available for early entry. Secure your spot before this one sells through.