Development Studies: Socio-economic Development from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Saleha Erdmann
The Effects of Classical Music
Presence of the Music
The Institute’s most obvious effect is the introduction of classical music. Now there are three hundred young musicians in the Institute who know how to play classical instruments and eighty that participate in the orchestra. That did not exist before. When I asked one of my students if there is a difference between the students who are musicians and those who are only in normal high school he responded, “Well, some of them know music and others don’t know music.” This answer seemed pretty obvious to me, but
even though it is obvious, it is true that the presence of music is a major effect. Therefore, the most basic effect of the Institute is that now there is a group of young people that know how to play classical music in Urubichá.
Organization of Time
The students of the Institute are also high school students. To attend classes at two schools takes a lot of time. The Aguararupa Loma sisters told me that they get up early in the morning to do their housework, and after that they attend classes at the Institute in the morning. In the afternoon they have their high school classes, and at night they have to study. Some students work as well, which makes it nearly impossible to finish their homework. “One learns how to use one’s time,” said Francisco Cara Mitucáe. Others told me the same.
Traveling and Foreigners
In 2000 the students from the choir and orchestra toured France and Spain. I spoke with two men who went on that tour and both described it as “a dream.” The musicians of the Institute have many opportunities to travel to other countries and other parts of Bolivia. The motives for these trips are to give concerts, attend workshops, and to meet other musical groups. They also have contact with foreign groups during festivals and there are many foreign teachers that work for SICOR.
When I asked people how the Institute had impacted the musicians’ lives, many people spoke of traveling and foreigners. Adrian Cara Mitucáe told me that before the Institute the youth “didn’t leave Urubichá, they didn’t know the city…[since then] their Spanish has risen to the same level as their Guarayo.” The violinist, Claudia, told me that she had traveled to Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and other parts of Bolivia. Juan Carlos said, “I know almost all of Bolivia and other countries too.” In an informal conversation another musician told me that although they often do not speak the same language as foreigners, “through playing we understand each other.”
This opportunity is something that many parents want for their children. One father told me how he had seen the orchestra playing on TV and how they are able to travel; he decided in that moment that his daughters should go to that school. Other parents do not want their daughters traveling because in the past some of the girl musicians have gotten pregnant during trips. This is a topic that I will address in the section about traditional social roles.
Through the Institute the musicians have contact with different ideas and cultures. “That’s how I’ve had many friendships with people who are different,” said Leonardo Yaquirema Urapoqui (2005). This contact provides these young people with a sense of ease with people who are different from them.
Fame and Necessities—Economic ChangesWhen Ruben Dario Suarez Arana and Arturo Molina started to teach music in Urubichá there were not many sources of labor, there was no high school, with the exception of Father Walter’s store there were no stores, there were no motorcycles or electricity in the plaza, and the young people did not speak Spanish well. Every Saturday Father Walter killed a cow to give to the people. A lot has changed in the last fifteen years, and Molina says that much of that is a result of the Institute. He told me that the Institute had changed Urubichá economically through fame and necessity.
Today Urubichá is well known everywhere in Bolivia and in many other parts of the world as well. “At first, Urubichá was a hidden town,” Juan Carlos told me, and now “…although it’s small, it is known on a national and international level, and that is through music.” In his book about baroque music in Bolivia, Atiliano Auza Leon dedicates an entire section to the music of Urubichá. He writes:
One can confirm that, the artistic route of the choir and orchestra of Urubichá, has been meteoric, sitial de honor for having given many concerts inside subsequent festivals, and has been invited to France and other countries to make known the “musical repertoire” of the Archivo de Chiquitos [Archive of Chiquitos] that, as we know, is extensive and varied.
The effect of the fame that Auza Leon describes is psychological as well as economic in Urubichá: psychological because the message of the fame is that Urubichá matters to the outside world (“The town feels excited to have a beautiful and famous orchestra.”); economic because the music has brought investment into Urubichá through interest and necessity.
Now tourists come to Urubichá to listen to music, and thus the women of the town can sell their crafts, such as hammocks, purses and money purses. The parroquia in Urubichá is the only one in the region that always has its gate open, which is due to the tourists. During my three weeks in Urubichá I saw politicians, members of an NGO, and tourists observing my classes with the cellists. And when I accompanied the orchestra to San Julian to listen to them play at mass and in a concert, I also saw them sell purses and hammocks outside of the church that had been brought from Urubichá.
The government has more respect for Urubichá now. It has invested more money in Urubichá in recent years. There are also groups outside of the town that have donated resources and money to the Institute.
The presence of the school created certain necessities for the town. They needed more infrastructure, and that was possible with the new money from tourists and the teachers at the Institute. The road to Urubichá has been improved (although it is still very bumpy). Now there are motorcycles, electricity, two high schools and ten stores. The Father Walter does not have to kill a cow every Saturday anymore; there are now two butcher shops in Urubichá. “The town has progressed a lot.”
Urubichá’s fame has attracted attention from institutions like NGO’s. There are now many NGO’s working in Urubichá, something which Molina does not support. Accordinf to Molina, the NGO’s meddle in the culture and lifestyle of the town. For example, they have brought goats to give to families, but the goats are not traditional animals in Urubichá and cause environmental damage. Molina also criticizes that these institutions give a lot to the people but then the Urubicheños do not learn how to work to earn the same things.
The economic impact of the Institute, directly or indirectly, has been significant in Urubichá. Much of this impact has improved the quality of life for the people there, but the economic change can also be a threat to local culture (for example, the environmental harm caused by goats). The most important thing in these changes is that the people decide if they are economic changes that the people want.
Opportunities: “Seguir Adelante”
Music training in Urubichá provides a unique opportunity to acquire work in a country where there is little classical music nor teachers to teach it. When I spoke with Leonardo’s parents and asked them how they feel about their children playing music. They responded that it is good to study and “seguir adelante” (literally “to continue forward,” meaning to advance in life). I heard this phrase often, “seguir adelante,” when I did my interviews. Music is “a source through which to seguir adelante, a tool to “seguir adelante,” said Juan Carlos.
With the title that the graduates from the Institute receive, the musicians can go on to teach music. Father Walter showed me an envelope one morning during breakfast. It was a request from Copacabana for a music teacher. The father spoke of the new graduates of the local high schools. He said that with the quality of education that they receive in Urubichá they cannot compete with other graduates from Ascención and Santa Cruz. Thus they cannot enter university because of their lower competency levels and the high financial costs. “Their futures are not very green,” said Father Walter.
“Do the musicians have more opportunities?” I asked.
“For now, yes,” he said, because many places still don’t have music teachers.
“I always ask myself, if I weren’t a musician what would I be?” Juan Carlos told me. For him, music has been a catalyst for his success. After he graduated from the Institute and high school, Juan Carlos could have gone to university, “but not economically.” Now he and another teacher from the Institute are studying in a distance program through a university in Santa Cruz. Juan Carlos was able to pay for his studies with the money that the Institute paid him as a teacher.
Thus, ironically, in Urubichá musicians have more opportunities to “seguir adelante” than other students. Meanwhile in countries where there are many more professional musicians with years and years of study it is almost impossible to find work.
Traditional Social RolesClassical music in Urubichá has reorganized some traditional social roles related to music. The main example is that of women and girls in music, but also age. In the past, only old men played instruments, but now there are boys and girls playing various instruments in Urubichá, as a result of the Institute.
Vidal explained to me an example of changing traditional roles. A traditional activity for a musician was to play a serenata (serenade). The musicians would go to the house of whomever’s birthday it was at midnight and play for him/her. Traditionally the old men gave the serenade, but now the young people do it.
But the way in which music at the Institute has most changed traditional social roles is through the introduction of women. I interviewed one of the first three girls to enter the Institute, an admirable and intelligent woman. She had wanted to play the violin since she was a little girl, but it was prohibited for women to play music: “inside the culture is was taboo, it was only for men.” Everyone told her that her hair would fall out and turn gray, and she would not be able to have children if she played violin. The first time that she “escaped from the house” to go to the Institute, her grandmother helped her. Her grandmother took her out to collect firewood, but after leaving the house her grandmother instructed her to go instead to the Institute. Thus she began to play music. The boys at the Institute enthusiastically taught the new girls and they quickly learned. “Everyone talked” about the new students in the Institute, but later they decided it was acceptable.
There are still girls studying at the Institute now, but not very many. I observed five girls playing in the orchestra. Before there were more, but now almost all have left. I asked many people why they think there are not more girls in the Institute. Some told me that that women are more dedicated to weaving and embroidering, others said tradition and mentality (“it’s a tradition…this stays in the mentality of the people”), others blamed machismo, and one person told me that parents do not want their daughters traveling for fear that they will get pregnant.
The female musicians that I interviewed told me that they do not feel discriminated against by other musicians and have not heard that their hair will fall out. It did not seem to bother them that they are a small group of girls in the orchestra. As one said, “it depends on the person.” However, many people think that they need to deal with the lack of girls in the Institute.
Guarayo Identity
As I have already explained, Guarayo identity is affected through participation in the Institute. For many, to play and to travel with the orchestra gives them a sense of pride to be Guarayo. Others say that classical music has not affected their indigenous identity very much.
Personal Change
Music can also affect how the musicians feel and act. “Sometimes I feel a certain way,” Vidal told me, “bored in my house and then I come here to the Institute and the music totally changes me.” And as one student said, through music he feels like he is flying. With music “we grow personally,” Juan Carlos said to me. And Vidal told me that the music “helps to change one’s life,” to calm someone down. In his experience, he has seen that his students are more responsible and punctual than before.
These changes should not come as a surprise, because they align with Father Walter’s original goal when he invited Ruben Dario to teach in Urubichá.
The finality of this youth movement is to offer to the children and young people the best dedication to time so that in the future they can maintain their lives and serve society.
next: Conclusion
back to senior project page
Anonymous, 2 December 2005; Uraba Arirepia, 2005; Yapurii Aramendaro, 2005.
Aguarupa, Aguarupa Loma & Aguarupa Loma, 2005; Anonymous 1, 30 November 2005; Anonymous 2, 30 November 2005.
Anonymous 1, 30 November 2005; Uraba Arirepia, 2005.
Anonymous 1, 30 November 2005; Duhamal, 2005.
Aguarupa, Aguarupa Loma & Aguarupa Loma, 2005; Cara Mitucáe, Cara Mitucáe & Martínez Maraza, 2005; Yapurii Aranmendaro, 2005.
Aguape Orepocanga, 2005; Uraba Arirepia, 2005.
Aguape Orepocanga, 2005; Uraba Arirepia, 2005.
Aguape Orepocanga, 2005; Cara Mitucáe, Cara Mitucáe & Martínez Maraza, 2005; Uraba Arirepia, 2005; Yapurii Aramendaro, 2005; Yaquirema Urapoqui, 2005.
Cara Mitucáe, Cara Mitucáe & Martínez Maraza, 2005.
Aguarupa, Aguarupa Loma & Aguarupa Loma, 2005.
Aguarupa, Aguarupa Loma & Aguarupa Loma, 2005.
Anonymous 2, 30 November 2005.
Cara Mitucáe, Cara Mitucáe & Martínez Maraza, 2005.
Anonymous 1, 30 November 2005; Yaquirema Urapoqui, 2005.