More South American Memories II

On the way back to Santiago from two weeks in the south of Chile, we stopped in Chillan and were met by the Principal of a Seventh Day Adventist school, who drove us to the school campus near the base of the Andes. We stayed for two days, and played our main recital program for the whole school. I remember they had to move the piano, which was an upright, putting it on the back of a truck, with me riding in the cab. It was a rocky journey, but several strong lads were holding it. I remember the Director's wife saying they had just done Handel's "Messiah", noting that it was an
arrangement for three solo treble voices, chorus plus violin and piano. That impressed me no end. The morning we lett was a Saturday, so the Director was in prayer and unable to be with us. The wife prepared a nice breakfast, and somehow I remember her saying that the local Indian population, which wasn't interested in their religion, were all waiting for the "Great Earthquake". I guess I am still figuring that comment out.

Back in Santiago we had a few days to regroup, and prepare to travel to the extreme north of Chile, right into the Attacama Desert, perhaps the driest on earth. This leg was done by bus, and they turned out to be quite nice, with an atendant to serve tea and coffee, and snacks. I remember a rest stop along the way, where there was a water pump, quite in the middle of nowhere. There was a small flower blooming beautifully, and beside it a sign saying "Dame Agua"....which apparently everyone did.

We arrived in La Serena, a beautiful small town, and were met by Jorge Pena-Hen, the director of the orchestra at a big school for orphans. He had started this orchestra some years before, and this is now felt to be the real begining of what is called El Sistema, the movement made famous by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. He had already taken the orchestra to Cuba, so he was leaning heavily towards the Socialist Front. I remember Patricio Cobos remarking that some of the money was coming from the Red Chinese, who were very prevelent in certain areas of South America. I spent a few hours with Mrs. Pena-Hen, a wonderful pianist, and we played for each other. I remember being struck by the beauty of the piano music of Humberto Allende, Chile's great composer. His music remeinded me of Albeniz and Granados,and in fact Debussy was one of his great admirers.

The sad conclusion to this story is that a few years later,
after the assassination of President Allende,and the take over of General Pinochet, the so called Death Caravan wove its way around Chile, and Pena-Hen was murdered and his body dumped along a road just outside La Serena. I often wonder what became of his wife. I only found this out a couple of years ago when reading the European Piano Teachers Journal, the author of the article having been in Chile during the same years I visited. It took me a long time to digest all this, but it puts in focus the fact that we never know so much in life until long after the fact. Judy Woodruff of NPR News did a documentary of this period in Chile, Judy being In Chile during this time.

We played out last concerts in Vina del Mar, the great resort town on the Pacific, close to Santiago. After the concert there, a very lovely lady invited me to return
if possible and play a solo recital for them. I did this two weeks later, and was excited to find a review of it in Chile's leading newspaper a few days later. This was a great turning point in my career, and led to over 150 solo concerts in the years ahead for the United States Information Service. Isn't it remarkable how things happen in life.

I left Chile with deep memories, and often I see pictures in my mind's eye. One that I often reflect on is traveling in the south of Chile on a cold day, by a very old bus. Suddenly I saw a man on horseback,with a second horse next to him waiting on a small rise by the side of the road. The bus stopped, after hours of travel, and a man got off with his suitcase and mounted the second horse and they rode off into the gloom. It made me realize the vast size of this country and the huge areas of very small population. A romantic scene....worthy of a song!