music and culture

Monday 19 April, Prasadavati wrote:

Along with an excellent yoga session at my now favourite yoga place in melbourne, a highlight of last week was a performance of Beethoven´s Eroica at the Melbourne concert house. There´s a story to this which i´d like to tell you:

"When every child has access to culture, then the world will be a more sensitive and more mature place.
Music is a special art form.
You can´t see music
you can only hear it and feel it.
Music is energy
The experiences it gives us makes us more sensitive.
And that´s what the world needs now
-much more sensitivity."

This is a quote from Gustavo Dudamel, a young venezuelan conductor who is claimed to be one of the most exciting up and coming conductors of our time. What is so special about him-apart from his passionate, infectious love of music- is his musical education. He is one of many fortunate young venezuelans to have benefiited from a revolutionary social project which uses the orchestra as a form for children to experience + appreciate themselves and feel part of a bigger creative and supportive body. This "system" of more than 200 orchestras was founded in 1974 by the economist and musician Jose Antonio Abreu. It was his answer to the violence of street gangs and shootings which was the destiny of so many children and teenagers in the poor "barrios".

and in german with a lttle help from wikipedia:
José Antonio Abreu ist ein venezolanischer Komponist,  Ökonom, Politiker, Erzieher, Aktivist und Gründer des größten musikalischen Projektes in Venezuela. In Venezuela lebten seit Jahren 75 Prozent der Bevölkerung unter der Armutsgrenze. In Caracas lebt ein Großteil der Bevölkerung in Barrios, in denen Kriminalität und Gewalt grassieren. José Antonio Abreu wollte helfen, das Elend der Kinder und Jugendlichen zu vermindern und ihnen eine Chance zu geben. Als Mittel dazu sah er die Musik an.1975 gab es in Venezuela zwei Sinfonieorchester, die überwiegend aus europäischen Berufsmusikern bestanden. In diesem Jahr lud Abreu 11 junge Musiker zu einer Musikprobe ein und verkündete ihnen, dass sie jetzt gleich Geschichte schreiben würden. Die zweite Probe zog 25 Musiker an, die dritte 46 und die vierte 75 Musiker. Abreu gründete die Sinfónica de la Juventud Venezolana Simón Bolívar, Namensgeber war der Freiheitskämpfer Simón Bolívar.
Abreu wollte nicht nur ein Sinfonieorchester gründen, sondern die Musik zur Bildung und seelischen und sozialen Stabilisierung von Kindern einsetzen, indem die Musiker ihr Wissen an Kinder aus schlechtesten Verhältnissen weitergeben.

I discovered this project last year when i saw the film "El Systema" all about the growth and development of the  project. I was moved to tears and so excited about the power of music and a collective undertaking to help society which addressed itself to the human potential, starting with children. Now here in melbourne through preparing to listen to Beethoven´s Eroica at the concert house, (not conducted by Dudamel) i once again immersed myself in this project by watching  a documentary about the performance of Beethoven´s Eroica by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, conducted by Dudamel, at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn in 2007.(treat yourself to a little taster here)

Should you want to follow this up, check out the film "EL Systema" or watch the dvd "The promise of music-mehr als nur Musik", about the project and the Beethoven performance in Bonn in  2007.
Needless to say the Dudamel quote sparked off many thoughts about the necessity for senstivity as a basis for empathy as a basis for friendliness as a basis for metta, karuna.........the rest you can imagine!

Have a good week!