Coconuts, the Filarmónica and some musings

Hello everyone!

I spent last weekend with Mariana and her family, she insisted on accompanying me everywhere I went, and invited me to go out with her friends a few times. They were all very nice people. Also, she showed me how to open a coconut-driving a nail into it to get out the milk, then, for lack of a machete, open it with a hammer, and burn the outside skin so the meat comes off nicely. That was really amusing. Also, there are so many tropical fruits here that I buy a different one every time I go to the grocery store, although I may not know how to go about eating it-today I bought something that is in the family of the papaya. Mariana also taught me how to make arepas, a Venezuelan staple of corn pita, which is filled with cheese (or meat). She had a special arepa press/mold/maker, just like some places have waffle makers and other tortilla presses.

Beyond gastronomy, I had a very interesting and long lunch meeting yesterday with a boisterous and animated violinist who played in Abreu's first orchestra in 1975 (his family gave up everything they had in Valencia to move to Caracas for him to play-he was 12 at the time!) and now plays in the Orquesta Filarmónica here. Caracas has five, yes five, professional orchestras, all of which are financed differently, which determines the musicians' wages and therefore, competitiveness and musical level. I will hopefully hear many of them, rehearsals start next week. The Filarmónica is the government-funded orchestra. The musicians, as state employees, received government materials (propaganda) during rehearsals, and are required by law to attend all pro-government rallies and marches. This is a point of conflict, clearly, for the musicians who are either anti-Chavista or apolitical. I think it will be very interesting to keep learning about how political rhetoric and influence (or opposition) are part of classical music here.

One point that keeps returning in my discussions with people here, regardless of ideology, is government funding for music programs. These funds make El Sistema possible here (although I need to learn more about how this became so-but I know the first orchestras received government grants and also some foriegn support-instruments from Japan, etc!), and it was increasing government interest in Peña's work in Chile that allowed his orchestra work to develop. In contrast, the contemporary replication of El Sistema in the US (and maybe, elsewhere) has occurred in a local, decentralized context. This leads me to ask: (how) is government support (financial, verbal, ideological) necessary for the development of such an orchestra program? The US is so far from having a powerful, centralized government (and is a much, much larger country)-crazed Obama socialist accusations aside-that national support of such an orchestra program seems really unrealistic in our context. I may fall into the chicken-and-egg dilemma here, so maybe I should stop while I'm still ahead. I am sure I will keep learning more about this in the contexts of the presidencies of Carlos Andres Perez (1974-79) and Herrera Campins (1980-84). I have so much to learn here!!

The rest of this week I will look forward to some more meetings with different musicians, and perhaps some hiking and a frisbee tournament. I'd love to hear from all of you!