La Caravana

The first of them all? A debate that remains open

In the history of the minitecas an argument about primacy persists: there are those who maintain that La Caravana came even before Los Muertos Andantes — the crew the Archive recognizes as the creator of the term “miniteca” (Víctor Morín, January 1967). The MiniTK Archive records that debate as open: to this day there is no documentary source that establishes with certainty which one rolled first. What is beyond dispute is that La Caravana belongs to the founding handful that opened the way for mobile sound in Venezuela.

At the Segunda Guerra del Poliedro (1979)

Years later, La Caravana appears on the bill of the Segunda Guerra del Poliedro (December 7, 1979) — presented as the first guerra de minitecas, the sound clashes of the movement, of national scope — alongside Saturno, T-Connection, Betelgeuse, Music Factory, Explosión, Lechuga's People, Savannah and Crazy Full. That edition was won by Explosión (2nd Betelgeuse, 3rd Lechuga's People); there is no record of La Caravana reaching the podium. Its participation is documented by the documentary video “Minitecas en el Poliedro de Caracas: Ritmo, Poder y Leyenda de las mejores minitecas de venezuela” (MINITECAS TV channel).

Article in progress…… contribute

Still to be confirmed are the exact year of its founding, its discjockeys and the detail of its equipment. If you have photographs, press clippings or accounts from its protagonists, the MiniTK Archive will include them with credit.

Social media

• · Social media and contact: being sought — do you have information? Write to us through the contact form

Credits and sources

• · History of La Caravana (the Wild West replica wagon, the “theming” of sound, whiskey barrels as stands for the speakers, and its popularity in El Paraíso, Santa Mónica, Montalbán, Bello Monte and Los Chaguaramos): accounts from protagonists and connoisseurs of the scene, kept in the CMTK Archive.
• · Owner: period plaque and card “La Caravana, Discoteca Móvil”, owner Sebastián Battaglisi (hijo) — archive of La Revista de las Minitecas (Vladimir Medina).
• · Participation in the 2nd Guerra del Poliedro (Dec 7, 1979): documentary video “Minitecas en el Poliedro de Caracas: Ritmo, Poder y Leyenda de las mejores minitecas de venezuela” (MINITECAS TV channel) — Minitecas TV / Grego Entertainment, narrated by Alberto Oliveira, stories by Gonzalo (González) Muñoz: youtu.be/p0Via5D2cMU transcript kept in the CMTK Archive.
• · Debate over its primacy against Los Muertos Andantes: an argument that persists in the oral history of the movement; the Archive records it UNRESOLVED, for lack of a documentary source that establishes which came first (see the Los Muertos Andantes entry).