Bolivia the daunting
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LA PAZ, Bolivia -- None of my other trips to South America had ever included Bolivia; thus, I have found its complexity somewhat daunting.
What brought my wife and me here was my stepson's wife, an internationally acclaimed pianist, Ana-Maria Vera. Ana-Maria is half-Bolivian, half-Dutch and now American. She started her career at age 8 as a child prodigy. There is startling footage of her in a little cotton dress, white socks and sandals playing Mozart with the Rotterdam (Holland) Philharmonic, with the other musicians dressed in tails and long black dresses. (She has played in Pittsburgh.)
Ana-Maria maintained her ties to Bolivia throughout an international career, largely in Europe. She is something of a national figure here, even having been on a Bolivian postage stamp in 1982. Mention of her name at a lunch in Potosi, Bolivia's most famous mining town, brought tears to the eyes of our host, who had heard her play and saved the program.
Ana-Maria's continuing visits to Bolivia persuaded her that the country's young musicians were not getting enough exposure to international-class performers. She then decided to organize, first, an annual festival in Bolivia, to which she would bring her friends and colleagues from that world. The first round took place last October. Famous musicians came, played and gave master classes to young Bolivian musicians.
Ana-Maria is now setting up a music school in La Paz, the capital, with the support of Bolivian banks, companies and the government, to seek to make the effort permanent. Her husband, John Dunton-Downer, a TV producer, has made a film to chronicle and promote the festival and the school. All of that is introduction to why I am in Bolivia, a charming but very complex country.
The complexity -- the difficulty -- starts with the ethnic mix of its people. The official name of the country is the Plurinational State of Bolivia. The Indians were here first in modern times, the high plateau Aymara and Quechua, who brought the Inca system of rule, and many different lowland groups. The Spanish came in 1538 and subjugated some of the Indians, then proceeding to loot the place of its gold, silver and other mineral wealth.
First Published February 8, 2012 12:00 am
