Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru
22nd of April till 10th of May 2006

 

Tour of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru,

three South American countries 


From 22 nd of April till 10 th of May 2006 the Adam Mickiewicz University Chamber Choir was making a tour of Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, three South American countries. The originator of this exotic journey was Reverend Professor Piotr Nawrot. It was him who had invited the choir to the Sixth International Renaissance and Baroque American Music Festival "Misiones de Chiquitos". The festival takes place every two years in late April/early May in Santa Cruz and on Jesuits' missions among Chiquitos and Moxos, Native American tribes. The festival is one of the most important cultural events of Bolivia and, because of its unique character, of the whole world. There are many various factors making the festival so unique: music performed there; the unusual venue at which the festival takes place, that is to Jesuit mission churches, both on the UNESCO's World List of Cultural and Natural Heritage; the original musical collections of the region. The festival is organised by Association for Art and Culture (La Asociacion Pro Arte y Cultura). The Association has been operating in Bolivia for over ten years. Its board of directors consists of specialists in music and musicology, and Reverend Piotr Nawrot is the artistic director of the festival. The choir and the organisers of the tour decided to extend it by a visit to two other countries, Peru and Ecuador. In these three countries (Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru) his Excellency Przemysław Marzec is the ambassador of the Republic of Poland. Thanks to his personal input and also thanks to honorary consul's in Quito, Mr Tomasz Morawski's personal input the choir had a chance to perform in Peru and Ecuador.

Our musical journey started in Europe. From Poznań the choir flew to Madrid, where it had a chance to feel the Latin charm for the first time. The Spanish language and culture turned out to be a link between the two continents. The evening and night spent in the capitol of Spain were very stimulating for our imagination.

The next stage of our journey, after a very long flight, was Peru. The first contact with the South American continent was surprisingly home-like. At the airport we were welcomed by Mrs Maria Kralewska, the owner of travel agency Perutrotter, who runs her company with the help of her family in Lima. This first meeting was not the last one. Mrs Maria took us under her wing until the end of our stay in Peru, showing us at the same time everything possible to see during our short stay. In five days we visited the capitol with its marvellous monuments and historic churches of Santo Domingo and San Francisco, Gold Museum - the only one on the whole continent, Pachacamac ruins. She also showed us from the air the mysterious lines drawn in Nazca by unknown cultures and the exceptional nature of the Ballestas Islands. The choir members felt like National Geographic observers, watching Humboldt's penguins and sea lions on the rocks, basking in the sun. Ocean, desert, South American highway Panamericana, cities and small towns, but most of all people from totally different culture guided us into this different, but similar at the same time, world. The picture of our stay in Peru would obviously not be complete without mentioning our hosts, families of Polish extraction, who have been living in this country for many years or even centuries, and our concerts. We got to know the life of ordinary people, and also of those living in mansions, surrounded by servants and security guards. Visiting the latter ones shed different light on South American soap operas, so often broadcast by our television. Although the occupation of servant or chauffeur seem slightly out of date in the twenty first century, after analysing economical situation and broader sociologically-economic context one inclines towards regarding these occupations a chance for education, survival and sustenance for the family. Our concerts, thanks to the help of the Polish Embassy in Lima, took place in most prestigious halls of that city. One of the concerts was dedicated to the pope John Paul II. The audience filled up the halls we performed in to the last seat. The reception of our concerts by all the audience, regardless of how serious and important some of them were, was very spontaneous and enthusiastic. This included standing ovation and singing along with the choir when it was performing the popular piece "Todos Vuelven".

The choir and social events it participated in drew attention of the local magazine, "Cosas. Una Revista internacional". Especially for us the Kalinowski-Navarrete family organised a party in the garden of their mansion, inviting both members of the high society - ambassador with his wife among them - and more ordinary people, like group of professional dancers and Native Americans from Titicaca lake vicinity. Both groups dedicated their performances to us.

On 29 th April the choir left Peru to go to Bolivia for couple of days, where the "Misiones de Chiquitos" festival takes place. Our first encounter with the Bolivian conditions occurred after touching down in La Paz, where the altitude reaches 4000 metres. It was noticeable for everyone. The world slowed down. And it stayed slow till the end of our visit to this country. Around 2 AM we were welcomed by the nearly empty airport in Santa Cruz. Everything was completely different there. The country seemed a bit poorer and not so hectic. The festival guide took us to our bus called "The Lightning" (El Relampago), a name, as it turned out, with double meaning. And it did not mean a good start for our journey to Chiquitos mission. To our surprise, the entire luggage had been loaded onto its roof. Inside the bus was not as big as one could expect it to be for 28 exhausted people. After first hour of our journey "The Lightning" lost one wheel. It took 10 Bolivian minutes (3 hours in European standards) to replace it. We were trying not to loose our temper. Only Reverend Nawrot awakened in the middle of the night exclaimed to the receiver of his phone: 'carramba'! After crossing a hollow bridge and travelling for several kilometres on a very stony road another tyre burst. The nearest tyre servicing station was a self service... That was where we said good bye to "The Lightning". We changed to another, slightly bigger bus, which finally got us to the first mission - Concepción. We were so late there was no way we could perform that day. Despite all our unlucky adventures, the mission started revealing its beauty to us, and incredible contrasts at the same time. In the middle of the jungle an immense wooden church suddenly soars into the sky. It's the Bishop's headquarters (by the way, Father Antoni Reimann from Poland) with stunningly reach embellishments, made mainly of gold and silver. As we were told by other Polish missionary, who was our tour guide in the church museum, these metals had been the cheapest available materials in the times when the mission opened. Even usual buckets used to be made of silver. This richness stays in sharp contrast to living conditions of local people, which are very poor, even destitute. The missions themselves though used to protect Native Americans from conquerors. Jesuits supplied shelter, education and employment. All missions were built in accordance with the same architectural plan. Some of them haven't changed much by today, and some of them have grown to become small towns. In the evening, after an over 24-hour-long journey, we got to the place of our sleep, San Ignacio de Velasco mission. We performed twice on the next day, in close-by Santa Ana and in San Ignacio itself. The second, evening concert assembled the ambassadors of the countries supporting the idea of the festival and of restoring missionary monuments. These are France, Holland and the European Union. It also gathered many musicians, tourists and locals. Again, after the concerts we were given standing ovation. The following days took us to San Julián mission, to which we got after visiting the church in San Javier on our way. There we had a chance to hear a little musical sample performed by local Native Americans. This was a baroque music from Bolivia! In each mission there's a music school, choir and orchestra consisting of Native Americans - Chiquitos or Moxos. Statistics say it is all together 1200 people. In the town of San Julián, typical for Europe tendency of workers moving on from agriculture to industry has been inverted. Shutting down of many mines caused people to look for employment in agriculture. People from mountainous areas move to the plains and valleys in search of job opportunities.

Worth mentioning is the influence of the Festival, of which this was the 6th edition, on the development of the region. Increased tourist traffic is noticeable during the festival. Tourists and listeners follow the performers. Partially because of that, several good hotels, restaurants and even Internet cafés were opened in the area. The festival gives employment in services, as an alternative to growing soya, cotton and maize or farming cattle.

The last mission visited by the choir was the town of Ascensión de Guarayos, populated by Guarayos Indians. Here, before the concert, the locals started welcoming us from the very morning by presenting us with traditional gifts made of palm tree materials and traditional singing. The town, completely different to Chiquitos, surprised us again in the evening. Polish missionaries, Father Kazimierz Falkus and Father Norbert Bryłka, who have been working there for 30 years, introduced our concert, and the town authorities by a decree made all the choristers inhabitants of honour. Before the concert begun every female member of the choir was presented with a necklace and bracelet made of the seeds of indigenous trees. Wearing this new jewellery, we presented our hosts with a real feast of Polish music in exchange for their hospitality. After the concert had finished, from the tribune put up especially for us, we enjoyed the performances of several local artistic groups, sipping hot chocolate and tasting empanadas at the same time. From Ascensión we set off back for Santa Cruz. Here we were expecting a very important performance; Reverend Piotr Nawrot was going to be among the audience. Reverend Piotr met us after we had arrived to the festival head office in Art Museum. He emphasised once again that he had not expected the choir to achieve so much. We were the first Polish artists ever to perform at the festival from its very beginning twelve years earlier.

Admiring the wonders of the town we set off for San Roque church, where we were to perform. The music of Polish renaissance and baroque enchanted our audience and we were asked for encores. Surprisingly, the Reverend asked us for a bossanova. We sang "Bésame Mucho" and the audience went absolutely crazy. In one of the critiques' notices we were praised for the 'angelic tone of voice'. Our conductor at the same time was praised for 'his magical hand that managed to execute exceptional and masterful interpretation from the choir, just as a magician's hand takes out a white rabbit from his hat'. After a goodbye supper, we changed the country for the third time. Calling at Lima, we made our way towards equator in Ecuador.

In Ecuador, at an altitude of 3000 metres, we met a honorary consul representative. We were accommodated in the luxurious Hilton hotel. The world around us changed once again. The city of Quito, though South American, very much resembles European cities. It enchants with its art of baroque, transferred to the heights of Andes. It the capitol it was most difficult to catch our breath, both literally and metaphorically. The altitude of 2800 - 3000 metres was tangible. We noticed it especially during our concerts, when we had difficulties with breathing and phrasing. Nonetheless, our two concerts in prestigious halls, Sucre Theatre and in the Golden Church La Companía de Jesús got wonderful reception. Our host, honorary consul Mr Tomasz Morawski asked local authorities of Quito and the director of the Sucre Theatre Julio Bueno, and engaged his employees and... family in organisation of our stay. Unofficial events took place along with the official ones. Course of salsa in one of the local clubs and unforgettable excursions to close-by Otavalo, Mitad del Mundo ("the Equator"), or an expedition into the jungle to the settlement of Mindo. The latter made an immense impression on us. Hummingbirds, butterflies, coffee trees, banana palms, lianas, palm trees, waterfalls and.... mini-rafting on a local river made our stay more full.

With plenty of adventures and with pictures still present under their eyelids, the artists from the AMU Chamber Choir came back to Poznan on 10 th of May.

 

(text by Ida Musiałkowska, translation by Szymon Jasiński)

The choir would like to thank:

  • Mr. Przemysław Marc
  • Mr. Tomasz Morawski and familly
  • Mrs. Marii Kralewskiej and Perutrotter
  • Director of Teatro Sucre Mr. Julio Bueno
  • the city goverment of Quito

and

  • Mrs. Anna Głowicka, Lufthansa
  • Mrs. Luciana Lombardi Franco, TACA
  • Mrs. Ewa Jankowska, Euro Sky Service.

 

Audition for a Choir

Contact:
Joanna Piech-Sławecka - conductor's assistant
tel. 604 525 554; 
e-mail: jps(@)amu.edu.pl

Rehearsals Rehearsals Collegium Martineum
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm (S, A, T, B)

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