On a journey: East Berlin, Germany

On a journey: East Berlin, Germany

Monday, August 25, 2008

Post Mexico Letter

I spent 2 weeks in Mexico with Cultures in Harmony, an American organization dedicated to bettering U.S. relations with the post 9/11 world. These two weeks were simply magical :) Here's the letter I sent to William, the director of CiH, after returning from Mexico. It is a report detailing what we did during the second week of the project. I spent 5 days in New York after the Mexico trip and have considered a move there. It is, without a doubt, the most artistically charged city in the U.S., and I would love to live there for some time. However, I'm not about to change anything just yet. We'll see where it all goes. Dear William, How are you? I hope you've been having a wonderful time in Papua New Guinea. I have been home in Chicago for a few days now and thought to update you regarding how the rest of the CiH Mexico trip went. I discussed this letter with Amelia, Ben, Ryan, and Andrew, so this letter is a group summarization/response from all of us. Amelia, Andrew, Ben, Ryan, Karl, and I had an incredible experience in Michoacan and cannot wait to return. We arrived in Morelia and met Itzia, and then met Marypaz from CREFAL at the bus stop. She took us to the CREFAL campus (you were right - it is very beautiful) where we met Karl and settled ourselves in the dorms. The project began early morning on Monday, August 4th, with half of us working with the orphans from Casa Hogar, and the other half working with the "abuelitos", or senior citizens, from Nuestros AƱos Felices. There were some apprehensions after that first day because the orphans proved to be a somewhat challenging group at first - they were difficult to engage and had some defensive barriers that we had to work through. After three days, however, the boys opened their hearts to us and we were able to form strong emotional connections with them. We figured out that the orphans group required more help/manpower simply to control, so from 10-1, Amelia, Andrew, Ryan, and Ben worked with the orphans while Karl and I worked with the abuelitos. It was a pity that the other four did not get to work with the abuelitos, and I would recommend that it be better worked out in the future - everyone should get to work with both the abuelitos and the orphans. Our work with the abuelitos was relatively simple in that we would engage in dialogue with them, always ending in singing their songs and learning their various traditional dances. They even brought in their traditional dresses and suits, and explained what the clothing represented. I played a bit of Indian music on my violin and we had a discussion about the purpose of music in various cultures. Karl performed a portion of one of his own compositions and encouraged the abuelitos to talk about their music - many of them spoke of experiences in the church or of tunes they had heard while growing up. From 4-6 PM, all 6 of us would journey to Casa Hogar and led the boys through different musical activities, from a jam session on Cuban tunes provided by Andrew to playing 'Name That Tune'. We realized that the best sort of composition to aim for with the boys would be in a form of creative storytelling with leitmotifs. Andrew, Amelia, Ben, and Ryan helped the boys to write a story together, pick out key phrases, and set them to a particular leitmotif that was sung by the boys and played by one of us. The boys would say whether they wanted something on a certain string or in a particular rhythm - it was up to them (with our aid) to create the musical characters and the story. The Wednesday, August 6th concert in Patzcuaro consisted of performances by the abuelitos, orphans, and ourselves. The abuelitos sang a beautiful regional folk song entitled, "Que Lindo es Michoacan" and danced two dances to songs that we've now also grown attached to. Karl and I learned the songs on our violins and performed the dances with the abuelitos - they even brought traditional outfits for the two of us and helped us wear the clothes, so we were "Michoacan Mexicans" for the evening. The boys danced out onto the stage to some of the Cuban tunes and then performed their story + leitmotifs; the effect was a semi-theatrical piece. A few boys read the story to the audience while Ben & Amelia played the motives, and Andrew and Ryan helped lead the boys in action. The boys were split into two groups: "osos" and "lobos" and the story was about the interaction and sometimes dramatic/confrontational dialogue of the osos and lobos as they both hunted for food. The boys' performance was very well received by the audience; they performed the piece twice that evening. I believe that this concert was a great success for everyone involved. It was great fun to put together and served as a reminder for me that the best musical performances are not given by only trained musicians. I think that the concert was a milestone for the boys particularly- it was something that they created and could call their own. They were proud of their piece. We spent Thursday in Comachuen and Paracho, and were thrilled with our experiences in both places. We first spent time in Paracho where we toured a guitar workshop and met a group of guitar makers. They showed us the small workrooms they had and their tools and methods used for the delicate handiwork of making a guitar. Three of us purchased guitars in Paracho and we all enjoyed walking around the beautiful main plaza area. An international guitar festival was going on at that time so the village was full of tourists and there was a bustling artisan market underway. In Comachuen, we met the director of the brass bands of the village. He eloquently explained that there are 7-9 brass bands in the village, all performing only the indigenous Purepecha music of the area. Many of the musicians lack formal training but are incredibly talented. We listened to a band, and then played some of our repertoire until a Catholic processional started to take foot near us. We discovered that there is a yearly Festival of the Virgin Mary and before it begins, the brass bands + townspeople parade through the town for 9 days, inviting other neighboring villages to come attend. We were invited to walk in the processional and so we took our place with the band and learned their songs as we walked throughout the entire village. A group of women carried an elaborately decorated idol of the Virgin Mary and when the processional came to a pause in the middle of the route, we were literally showered with colorful paper confetti, some of which remained inside my violin until only a few days ago. Participating in the processional was one of the most ecstatic experiences of my life. The six of us just kept looking at each other with speechless wide smiles, not knowing what to think or how to react beyond utter excitement at what we were experiencing. We understood that we'd been bestowed with an honor, and felt humbled by it. The processional eventually ended up back at the village cathedral and then nearly the entire little village sat and watched as we engaged in a sort of "musical exchange." The brass bands played a piece, and then we would respond with something of ours - Bach, Handel, anything that we were prepared to play. We left shortly after this exchange in order to get back to Patzcuaro, but not without speaking with the director of the Comachuen bands. He told us that he is yearning to get his bands out and more exposed to the public eye, and that if we knew of any opportunities or people who can aid him in his search, it would be a great help. He also said that they have a small music school currently undergoing renovation, and would love if some of us can come and give master classes for a few days. I told him that I'd be sure to discuss this idea with you. The experience in Comachuen was both surreal and spiritual, and it would be wonderful to return with even more to offer. On Friday, we spent the whole morning with the orphans at Casa Hogar, playing with them and preparing to say goodbye. Amelia led the "handprint project" with them, and had the great idea of tracing all of our hands onto sheets of paper with our names, and giving one sheet to each boy as a parting gift. Perhaps it was just a sensation of maternal instincts, but I feel as though we built incredibly strong connections with these boys, and so saying goodbye was not easy. We became friends with the ladies who help run the orphanage, and they conversed with us about some of the basic things that are lacking for the boys, such as proper clothing and shoes. It was also suggested that a possible crash-course in computers would be great - apparently one of the older boys overheard a conversation about "sending an email" and asked, amazed, "You can send mail through the computer?" While I realize that a basic computer course isn't exactly musical in nature (although it could be), it is an idea of what we can help them with in coming projects, and also of what they need. We left Casa Hogar for a sightseeing trip to the island of Janitzio and then returned to CREFAL to wrap things up with Marypaz, who was an amazing help through out the week. She asked Ben and me to help her with a translation project for CREFAL, and we tackled a good deal of it together in New York after returning from Mexico. I hope we continue to work with Marypaz and CREFAL in the future. We left for Morelia on the next morning (Saturday), where after finally relaxing for a bit of time, we met up with Karl at CMMAS. The facilities there are beautiful! After our evening concert there, we were able to get to know Carlos and Itzia + her husband a bit better. They are also very nice people with many ideas about future work. We returned back to Mexico City relatively problem-free and flew back to New York/Los Angeles. The entire CiH project in Mexico was an incredible experience, and I cannot thank you enough for including me. We were lucky to have had the group we did in Patzcuaro because not only did we get along great, but we also worked well together. I can't say more about the positivity and enthusiasm of Amelia, Ben, Ryan, and Andrew - it was truly a pleasure. You'll hear more from me soon enough - there is a lot more to report in terms of work/project proposals from people we met along the way in Michoacan, but I wanted to wait until you're settled and recovering in the United States. I wish you the best of luck with Steve and Tiffany in Papua New Guinea, and a safe journey home. Take care, Geeta