As a recorder student in Zürich, I became interested in the traditional music of South America and especially the baroque repertoire of Chiquitania. As soon as I was able to join some family in Bolivia to spend 2 months there, I seized the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of two Swiss Jesuits who played an important role in the transmission of this heritage.
This year 2022 is a special year, because of the 250th anniversary of the death of Martin Schmid (1694-1772) who in addition to being an architect was an extremely talented musician. Music and instrument making were part of his daily life and this heritage has remained intact to this day.
And of course, another man who left his mark on recent history is Hans Roth (1934-1999), for the incredible number of churches he restored in Chiquitania.Today it is his son Christian Roth, himself an architect, that I had the joy to meet, who is here to explain the enormous work of his father.
It is therefore with great humility that my adventure in the footsteps of these two men began at the beginning of August in Santa Cruz in the office of the cultural association APAC, which works to preserve the tradition of baroque music in Chiquitania.
I spent three weeks there, researching and learning more about the development of the various schools of music as well as the evolution of one of the largest, if not the largest, baroque festivals in the world, namely the international festival of renaissance and baroque music "MISIONES DE CHIQUITOS". Since the first festival in 1996 there have been thirteen festivals and the next one will be held in 2024.
After these few days of research, I had the chance to accompany Padre Piotr in his travels as well as Beata Hedzielska, a Polish benefactor of APAC who, by accumulating 2 jobs, helps schools financially.
The first school we visited was in Plan 3000, one of the poorest suburbs of Santa Cruz. I was amazed by the number of students and their joy at being at rehearsals.
I was able to attend their very first rehearsal of the new program they were preparing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uvv__GIl28
In the video above, this is just a portion of the youngsters from about 8 to 16 years old. The older kids will still be added as well as the younger ones.
The little ones learn to read music from 3 years old with the xylophone and a very good pedagogy with colors and play their first notes.