[JWPM 2.2 (2015) 211-215] JWPM (print) ISSN 2052-4900 doi:10.1558/jwpm.v2i2.21287 JWPM (online) ISSN 2052-4919 Radio Programme Review BBC. 2013. World Routes: The Baroque and Beyond (Episodes 1 to 3). Produced by James Parkin, presented by Lucy Durán. BBC Radio 3 programmes, 60 minutes (each) Reviewed by: Alfredo Colman, Baylor University, USA [email protected] Keywords: Agustín Barrios; Arpa Róga; Paraguay; Paraguayan harp; Zipoli Recorded in January 2013 during Lucy Durán’s trip to Paraguay and Bolivia, and broadcast throughout March 2013 as part of Baroque Spring for the BBC Radio 3 series World Routes, the first three of these five radio programmes focus on music and culture in Paraguay, whilst the remaining two episodes explore Baroque musical traditions in Bolivia. As the BBC website indicates, “World Routes gets to the heart of Latin American Baroque in two of the con- tinent’s most musical nations. The programme makes exclusive recordings of music and musicians that date from the Baroque period, as well as other tradi- tions that date from before or after the 16th and 17th Centuries” (BBCa 2013). In addition to the recorded episodes, the BBC Radio 3 website and sound archives include details on the live music played on each programme. The first three episodes, which form the basis for this review, are primarily concerned with Paraguay and explore the history and performance practice of the Paraguayan harp, the choral sounds of sacred music composed during colo- nial times, the musical practices of the Kamba-kuá Afro-Paraguayan commu- nity, the musical contributions of Paraguayan guitarist and composer Agustín Pío Barrios “Mangoré”, and conjunto music as performed in the countryside in Paraguay’s southern region. In order to provide the appropriate cultural, his- torical and musical contexts, Durán interviews local music teachers, students and professional musicians, such as popular music conjunto Arapy Sandú; harp- ists Nicolás (“Nicolasito”) Caballero, Marcos Lucena and Kike Pedersen; con- ductor Luis Szarán; and guitarist Berta Rojas. In fact, the approach and nature of each one of the episodes—interviews, live performances, descriptions in real time/on-location comments—add a good perspective of Paraguay as a geographical-social place and as a musical-cultural space. Episode 1, simply titled “Paraguay”, begins in Itapúa, one of the Southeast- ern “Departments” (geographical regions) of Paraguay. Durán visits Jesús de © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. 212 JOURNAL OF WORLD POPULAR MUSIC Tavarangué, an old Jesuit mission dating back to 1760 and, since 1993, part of a United Nations’ Cultural World Heritage Site. At the remains of the unfinished church (the Jesuits were expelled from the New World in 1767), Durán attends a rehearsal of Amadeus Lírica, a student musical ensemble from Encarnación, capital of Itapúa. The group rehearses a portion of the ‘Te Deum’ by Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726), a significant musical figure in the life of the Jesuit mis- sions in the eighteenth century. Born in Prato (Italy), Zipoli joined the Society of Jesus in 1716 and, one year later, arrived in Buenos Aires. Zipoli completed his theological studies in Cordoba, Argentina. Though he never travelled to the Jesuit missions located in present-day Paraguay, his music became known throughout the churches and mission settlements of the Provincia Jesuítica del Paraguay (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay) and beyond, including present-day Bolivia and Peru. At first,World Routes seems to suggest that “Par- aguay’s great Baroque tradition” resulted from the fusion of European and Jesuit Baroque music with that of the Guaraní community. However, this epi- sode and the subsequent ones clarify, at least through the musical selections, that although the current perceptions stress the idea that Paraguay devel- oped a rich Baroque musical tradition, in reality the entire “Jesuit” region promoted and disseminated music using European models and tools, includ- ing the systematic instruction of music and the establishment of workshops to build instruments. Nevertheless, present-day Paraguayans feel proud of the historical and cultural connections with the sacred works written in the region by composers of the stature of Zipoli. Next, Durán travels to Arpa Róga in Asunción, a Paraguayan harp music school where the systematic instruction of the country’s national instrument is offered to children and teenagers. At Arpa Róga, she interviews “Nicolas- ito” Caballero, one of the most renowned performers of the Paraguayan harp worldwide. After performing ‘Cascada’ and sharing details on his background and approach to performance, Nicolasito indicates that harp music in Para- guay is not “Spanish” nor “Indian”, but “Paraguayan”. Indeed, the “Guaraní” element is located in the use of the Guaraní language in vocal music, as well as in the type of speech cadence inflection implied by the musical accompani- ment. Nicolasito then performs his own arrangement of the epic and dramatic Paraguayan polca ‘Campamento Cerro León’ and the country and western song ‘Sweet, Sweet Smile’ by Otha Young and Juice Newton. This last selec- tion showcases the versatility of the Paraguayan diatonic harp and the fine technique of Nicolasito, who plays semitones on the Paraguayan diatonic harp using a llave (“metal ring”), which is pressed on the strings of the instrument. The first episode continues with an interview with conductor and re- searcher Luis Szarán who discusses the development of music in the colonial Jesuit missions and his own experience with the compositions of Domenico © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015. RADIO PROGRAMME REVIEW 213 Zipoli (see also Szarán 2005). Following two harp pieces based on a transcrip- tion of a work by Zipoli and ‘Guarania Barroca’, an original composition by harpist Marcos Lucena, Durán visits the Kamba-kuá Afro-Paraguayan com- munity. Located in Fernando de la Mora, near Asunción, the group shares with World Routes a drumming session and the intriguing history of this Para- guayan community, dating back to the 1820s, when Uruguayan General José Gervasio Artigas (1764–1850) was sent to exile in Paraguay along with a group of Afro-Uruguayan soldiers. Due to the lack of a general awareness of a Black presence in Paraguay, the Kamba-kuá community promotes the performance of music, dance and traditions as a means of sharing and transmitting cultural practices among the Afro-Paraguayan people. As we learn during the inter- view, the figure of San Baltazar (the dark-skinned king, one of the three Wise Men) is key for the representation and affirmation of the social and cultural identity of the community. Whilst episode 1 ends here, the subsequent second episode on Paraguay features an interview with the guitarist Berta Rojas, a visit to Arpa Róga and a discussion about the Sonidos de la Tierra project with conductor Luis Szarán. Introducing the listeners to guitarist Berta Rojas, Lucy Durán engages her in a conversation to share her views on the classical guitar, including her own musical background, performances and experiences in Paraguay and abroad. Rojas also talks about the musical career and significance of Paraguayan gui- tarist and composer Agustín Pío Barrios “Mangoré” (1885–1944), a landmark in the world of classical music for the guitar. Indeed, seen as the Chopin or the Paganini of the guitar, the lyricism and technique of Agustín Barrios are admired, performed and transmitted worldwide through his compositions. For Berta Rojas, Barrios has transcended the realm of Paraguayan music, becoming a representative of the Latin American guitar tradition as well as the foremost composer for the instrument in the world of classical music. As part of the broadcast, Berta plays four solo guitar compositions by Barrios: ‘Caazapá’, ‘El último Canto’, ‘Danza Paraguaya’ and ‘Ha Che Valle’. Durán and Rojas visit the Archivo Paraguayo de la Música El Cabildo, where a permanent display of the life and works of Agustín Barrios could be observed. Located in the Centro Cultural de la República complex, the Archivo serves as the Para- guayan museum of music. Throughout the conversation, we learn about the achievements and challenges of the professional musician in Paraguay. Thus, we hear that although there is a current awareness and promotion of Para- guayan music and the arts in general, musicians received little support from the government. The broadcast continues with Lucy Durán interviewing Cristóbal and Gladys Pedersen, founders of Arpa Róga. The Pedersens emphasize that the main goal of Arpa Róga is to teach about Paraguay and its history and cul- © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2015. 214 JOURNAL OF WORLD POPULAR MUSIC ture, both locally and internationally, and through the promotion of the Paraguayan harp and its music. Next, students of the institution perform the Paraguayan polcas ‘Tren Lechero’, ‘Isla Saká’ and ‘Carretaguy’, and both Kike Pedersen and Nicolás Caballero play ‘Pájaro Campana’, the “Paraguayan hymn” for the harp. During the course of the interview, we also learn more about harpist Félix Pérez Cardozo (1908–1952), a landmark in the develop- ment of the instrument (performance technique, repertory), as well as the past and present methods of construction and the innovations added to the Paraguayan harp. Episode 2 continues with Luis Szarán, who discusses the project Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds of the Earth). As an ongoing model and in the context of social sustainability through musical instruction, this project emphasizes that (teaching) music produces good citizens and reduces poverty. Precisely, in the words of Szarán, “the young person who plays Mozart by day does not break shop windows at night”. Reflecting on the current place of the harp and musical instruction in Paraguay, Durán takes the audience back to Berta Rojas for a final performance of Agustín Barrios’s ‘Caazapá’ and ‘The Flight of the Butterfly’, a piece extracted from Vincent Lindsay Clark’s Suite Americana, a work dedicated to Rojas.