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Music from the Heart
of South America
Featuring Paraguayan
Harpist Nicolas Carter
September 30, 2007 |
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The atmosphere in the church sanctuary
was chaotic at first, since we were setting up the chairs and stands
for the orchestra just as the Spanish language mass was ending.
However once the concert began we had a most extraordinary
experience, with an audience of over 300 (people moved around so
much we never could get an exact count!) people, including many
Spanish-speaking, Latino families, as well as neighbors, family,
students of orchestra members, and traditional orchestra concert
attendees. The moment we
finished our first piece of music applause and cheers bubbled up
from the crowd, and as the concert proceeded sometimes slowly
because we offered spoken commentary and explanations in both
English and Spanish the concert transformed into a festival, with
singing, shouting, whistling and cheering throughout.
We became aware that our audience contained a healthy
contingent of Paraguayans, by their strong, heartfelt responses to
the Paraguayan songs performed by Nicolas, and our orchestrations of
others. During
intermission a gentleman approached me to express how deeply he
appreciated hearing the songs of his homeland, and how successfully
and beautifully the orchestrations captured and amplified the spirit
of the music. Members of
the orchestra were as stunned as I was by the effervescent audience
response to our music, but Nicolas only smiled quietly and later
commented to us that he had wanted us classical musicians to
experience the vibrancy of audiences for traditional Latino music.
Orchestra members as well as audience members bought Nicolas
cds and many people stayed after the concert to see the beautiful
Paraguayan harp up close and exchange greetings after this
extraordinary event. |