Con Dvorak En El Parque Central de Antigua

De Nuevo En Antigua Con La Banda

Felizmente nuestra actuación privada en terminó temprano, lo cual me permitió regresar al hotel a cambiarme para luego dar un paseo por la agradable noche sabatina en Antigua. Tuve la buena suerte que se está celebrando en estos dias el festival “Mosaico Cultural”, un festival para el cual ya hemos actuado aquí en Antigua; La Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Guatemala estaba actuando en el atrio de la catedral. Llegué justo a tiempo para el comienzo de la Sinfonía del Nuevo Mundo de Dvorak y la disfruté mucho. Todo a pesar de las inconveniencias que presenta para una sinfónica presentarse al aire libre, el sonido amplificado, etc., Pero es que se sumó al concierto una luna llena que apareció detrás de la catedral añadiendo dramatismo a las notas de Dvorak que creo se hubiera sentido agradecido por el espectáculo.

Una vez finalizado el concierto caminé un poco mas por el alegre centro de la ciudad y entré a “La Fonda de la Calle” un pequeño restaurante de cuyo menú pedí los vegetales a la parilla. Después, a caminar un poco mas y a sentarme en una banca del parque central, desde donde vi a la luna antes mencionada, elevarse como papalote entre las jacarandas.

To Begin With

Welcome to this new versión of my journal in english. Most of these articles and notes are translated from spanish so you will excuse me not being a profesional translator. I will try my best however, and hopefully Ill get better at it. You can write to me either through the contact link in my website or directly to the comments on these pages. So far I make a big effort to answer questions and suggestions personally. Thank you all for all the feedback . -Guillermo

Bay Of Omoa ,Honduras, Central America
Naturally, the first thing that came to mind when I had this scene before me was Hemingways The Old Man And The Sea. But I also thought this would be a beautiful way to start this journal which can be reached independently but its
also an extensión of my official website. In this new journal which I can update from wherever I am I will be able to share my travels , thoughts and dreams.

I went out early for a walk on the beach front of my little hotel to find the beautiful reflection of the sky which is the water over bay of Omoa. I walked to the small peer and saw the fisherman in his cayuco (dug-out canoe) and shot the photograph. I could hardly make out the horizon. The calm shared by the sky and the ocean turned both into one and. The fisherman seemed to float not on the ocean but in a different kind of inmensity.

The scene, as after reading Hemmingway’s story, brought many thoughts to mind. The fragility of human beings before the elements but also how fearles we have been put ourselves to sea in such fragile boats. What where the fisherman’ s thoughts at the moment? What do fishermen meditate upon in their floating solitude? I have seen how in the afternoons of La Ceiba, they face the sea in silence for hours as if trying to unveil its mysteries. That’ s what I felt like doing in the quietness of that morning. I wanted to sit on that peer and look into the ocean for hours and hours. But in a few minutes I had a sound check. That night we would be performing in the San Fernando de Omoa Fort. The lineup : The Orquesta Centroamericana de La Papaya and my band. A concert for an international conference.



View of The Bay Of Omoa from My Hotel Window

Photo: Guillermo Anderson

A Bit Of History
The Fort Of San Fernando de Omoa

Without knowledge of history it is imposible to understand what is happening now. -Arturo Perez Reverte

A Bit Of History
The San Fernando de Omoa Fort
Without knowledge of history it is imposible to understand what is happening now.

The above quote has been said many times before and in different ways . I just happen to have read recently and interview with Arturo Perez Reverte, one of my favorite authors in the spanish language and a great enthusiast of naval history. Considering that this gig was taking place in a site of great historical importance for this country, I dare take a short walk through its history.

There is nothing better than to walk around a site whith a good knowledge of its history, its like being in it twice , in its past and its present. I dont find a date in which the Fort of Omoa is officially declared finished but it is known that construction began in the middle of the seventeenth century. Towards the end of the same century it had been built.

Its construction responded to the fact that in colonial Honduras , Spain was surrounded by english settelments. To the west was Belize , to the north were the Bay Islands and to the east the british settlements of the Mosquitia. The fort was meant to be not only a sort of safety box in the region to guard merchandise destined to Spain but also to guard the territory for the Spanish crown.

Front Wall of the Fort Of Omoa
Photo: Guillermo Anderson

History tells us that for its construction , the slaves of the spanish crown
dragged huge rocks as far as a hundred kilometers through the thick
Jungle and mangrove. Walking in the silence of what today is the fort of Omoa it is hard to imagine the amount of lives it cost to build. Its construction began with natives from the towns of Tencoa and Yoro in Honduras. But the harsh conditions of forced labor, the plague of mosquitoes and yellow fever didnt take long to claim the lives of hundreds of these these native workers. Soon the spanish imported african slaves from Jamaica.

Eventually, around the military post, a small community took shape made up by a very diverse group of inhabitants that included many descendants of the first slaves brought by the spanish. Today the town is called Omoa, and it can be reached in about an hour’ s time from the city of San Pedro Sula.

I was lucky to run into Anthropologist Dario Euraque in my hotel who is also the head of the Honduran Institute of Anthropology. Dario knows about my interest in the history of the Honduran Caribbean and was quick to hand me a very interesting study on the history of Omoa by Historian Rina Caceres (University of Costa Rica) The african prescence in Omoa is not only interesting because of its importance in the coming about of the fort. What I find fascinating is the diverse nationalities that where brought to the place. From Africa there were Congos and Carabalis , but also descendants of slaves from Venezuela , Jamaica, Trinidad , Cuba and other caribbean islands.

One of them has to do with a series of spheral gas tanks that an oil company built in one of its beaches. Considered a seroius threat to the safety of the locals, these tanks are also a threat to the beautiful landscape.
Our Natural Resource and Environment Ministry has declared that these tanks pose a great danger to the area and has ordered their removal. So far, environmentalists and concerned citizens have seen no sign that these will be removed in the near future.

With Manuel Obregón, leader of "La Orquesta De La Papaya"

Today Omoa is a landscape in waiting of its discovery by big tourism .
So far, the lack of infrastructure , bad roads and little or no maintennace of its beaches indicate that Omoa is limited to national and seasonal tourism . It has also been an area where the middle and higher classses of San Pedro Sula keep beach homes. Omoa’s turistic potential sees itself in the midst of conflicts. One of them has to do with a series of spheral gas tanks that an oil company built in one of its beaches. Considered a seroius threat to the safety of the locals, these tanks are also a threat to the beautiful landscape. Our Natural Resource and Environment Ministry has declared that these tanks pose a great danger to the area and has ordered their removal. So far, environmentalists and concerned citizens have seen no sign that these will be removed in the near future.

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MUSIC IS MY FORT

I must remind you that we were there to make music. I remember playing in this historic monument more then ten years ago. I have a beatufil memory of the ocasión; A stage filled with fruit of all kinds and even a cayuco like the fisherman’s of the photo filled with tropical flowers inspired by a verse of “ En Mi Pais”, one of my best known songs. In this ocasión I was glad to share the stage with La Papaya Orquestra. La Orquesta de La Papaya is made up by musicians from all over Central America and it brings toghether sounds and rythms from all over the region.
I am honored to be a funding member of it and to have two of my musicians be part of it as well. Eduardo Cedeno guitarist and Ismael Pastor our garifuna drummer. Added to this the orquestra recorded and named its latest Cd
after one of my songs “Tierra de La Dulce Espera” Land of Sweet Waiting”.

The Orquestras Sound Check

Our Soundcheck
In my soundcheck the heat was intense. However, that was lucky in this time of the year. A lot better than sitting in the hotel and watch how the typical downpours of this season cancelled the show. Mohabub Flores from Belize joined us with his turtle shells (far right) The shells alignd in his chest are practically a marimba. Ive never asked him if they let him into europe with such instrument.
This photo of "La Prensa"caught us at the end of what looks like “Tierra de La Dulce Espera” . I have to say that I really enjoyed the show , playing as a special guest with the orquestra and with my band. People got up on stage to dance in more than one song and security had to ask a few dancers to step down. The show made me think of how far many of us central american singer songwriters and musicians have come since eight years ago when we first set out to meet and play toghether more frequently in the region. The show was produced by our independent agency Musica Del Sol , Manuel Lopez and Max Urso.

We owe this beautiful experience to the Honduran Institute of Tourism and the volunteers who made this event happen . They were kind enough to think of us when organizing the conference and thinking of showing this musical side of Central America to the world. .

Video Takes Of Guillermo Live In Omoa

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Looking For The Music Of The Honduran Mosquitia

With the help of the German Development Agency, (GTZ) Project Biosfera RIO PLATANO - PRORENA BRPI am now working on a recording that will include some musical elements and rhythms of the Misquito Culture. The idea is to also be able to talk to my Honduran audiences about an area of the country and its peoples of which they know very little about. As part of the research for the CD, the project’s coordinator, African Musician and Songwriter Jose Fermin Molongua and I made a trip to Brus Laguna, a town in the Mosquitia region in eastern Honduras. We went there with the purpose of meeting some local traditional musicians and become yet more familiar with the rhythms and styles, especially of guitar playing in the Misquito culture.

La Mosquitia

La Mosquitia is a wilderness region in eastern Honduras shared by Honduras and Nicaragua. It is our Central American Amazonia. It holds some of the world’s most diverse flora and fauna. It also includes everything from rain forest to lagoons, rivers, mangroves and miles of coast. The Mosquitia holds the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve. The richness and diversity in this reserve has such importance that it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1996. The PeopleThe Mosquitia is also home to a diversity of cultural groups. The Pech, Tawahka, Garifuna and Misquito people make this place rich with cultural diversity. My interest in this trip was the Misquito. This group is first descendant of the Sumu groups that came from South America. Of great interest to the colonial powers for its precious red wood, Spain was the first to send missions to settle the area. The first missions succumbed to the harsh environment and to the Sumu attacks. The area was eventually invaded and settled by the English who brought along African slaves to help colonize the area. Today this mixture of Indian, African, English and Spanish makes up the Misquito culture.

Getting There

We arrived in a small airplane from La Ceiba. There are flights 3 days a week to Brus Laguna. There is still very little tourism coming this way. The passengers on our flight were locals who come to La Ceiba to bring goods, some development workers and a couple from the US that are here to see the Rio Platano Biosphere with the help of an eco-tourist guide. The first impression that towns in this region give the traveler is the wooden houses on stilts. These are lowlands and In the rainy season these lands will flood.A strong first impression for us Honduras is the language. Many of us who live in the rest of Honduras don’t know how strongly Misquito language is spoken here. Unlike other ethnic groups in the country who everyday speak more “bilingually” (their language and Spanish that is), The Misquito are very proud of their language, a mixture of their Sumu Indian origin, English and Spanish. Finding Friends

Some time ago I had played a concert in the town of Belen, about a four hour boat ride down from Brus, and made a few friends. I was gladly surprised to know that my music for children has been used for a few years by teachers in this region to teach children music and conservation.

Concert in The Town Of Belen

We found Teacher John Cooper Wood. English names in the Misquito people are common because of the English presence in the region. He was glad to see us and grateful that we would be interested in Misquito Culture.La Mosquitia has been an isolated region of Honduras for years and governments have rarely given any attention to its development, needless to say its culture. For years and through being a teacher in La Mosquitia, John Cooper has tried to preserve Misquito Culture organizing music and dance groups with his students. We decide to meet later to talk some more and do some recordings, but especially so I can “workshop” some of these rhythms on guitar, that I still feel I don’t come close to playing. Fortunately John offers to bring along his father Don Juan Cooper. Don Juan is a very popular Misquito guitarist, singer and songwriter. Even at the age of 86 and his complaining that “he’s too old”, he has great ability for playing the instrument.

Before The Workshop, Off To See the Landscape

After our meeting and lunch we decide to see some of the landscape surrounding the lagoon. We hire a “pipante” the traditional Misquito open boat with a guide to show us around. This pipante however is not propelled by a long stick in the traditional manner here, but by a 45 outboard motor. We leave the towns main dock and head through the waterways to the Lagoon. Once in the Lagoon we can feel the strong breeze and the boat moving with the waves. We can now see the size of this body of water. Some cargo boats are trapped inside the lagoon; they depend on the natural opening of the lagoons entrance to the sea and wait for the next rains so the rivers bring enough water to deepen it.

According to historians the first English man to settle in the area was a man by the last name of Brewers, so to the English it was known first as “Brewers Lagoon” hence the later name of “Brus Laguna”.When I ask about what seem to be small camps scattered about, we learn about excessive fishing in the lagoon. Unfortunately there is no control regarding fishing with large nets. Someone told me that there could be 400 to 500 hundred of these nets in the lagoon at a time. It’s amazing how generous nature can be. You would think it would have given up a long time ago. This area is so rich and could be richer in fish and natural resources with some control. My brother Patrick, bass player in my band and geographer taught me the term TBPC “Territory Beyond Political Control” This area seems to be beyond ecological control as well. The boat is swaying a bit more as we come to the center of the lagoon.

I don’t know if my friend José is enjoying the ride In Brus Lagoon or not.

Then we head into one of the river way the Sigre River, we follow it a couple of miles up river to see the thick vegetation on its sides. Our guides tell us it’s this way for miles and miles. It’s comforting to know that some areas of the world remain that way. We head back to the lagoon were we see more fishing camps.Our guide makes jokes about crocodiles in these waters. We don’t know how to take them. He says you can catch good fish around here. When I get home I can hear my father asking me if I took a fishing line to see if I could catch a “rovalo”.



Ahead of us we begin to see two small Islands that sit in the middle of the lagoon. One of them is Cannon Island. The island is famous for being a stronghold of English pirates and corsairs who set up a camp and set up cannons all around it to hit on Spanish vessels which attempted to come into the lagoon. Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out once we got to Cannon Island (amateur journalist that I am) the place has been turned into a small resort that for years, has catered to sport fishermen. I understand it will now welcome eco-tourists. The island is idyllic; the tiny resort is surrounded by abundant tropical vegetation and is nesting grounds for all kinds of sea bird species and its trees for hundreds of iguanas.Our guide tells us we must get back to Brus before it gets dark. We must prepare ourselves for we will be motoring against the wind. We leave behind beautiful Cannon Island. Once in the lagoon we see many small pipante heading out to fish.

The open air and the breathtaking beauty reassure my love of water and its lifestyle. It reassures my love for this beautiful part of the world. We come close to town and we land in a neighborhood where we were told, was where the village of Brus began. The houses are on stilts over the water, the women are washing clothes in the lagoon and the children are bathing and jumping of the anchored pipantes. The men are working on their nets and radios are blasting news or music. Everywhere I go I can’t help wondering what a childhood is like in the place. It is such a privilege to grow up with the freedom children have in these villages. In a typical non- school day they wake up and bathe in the lagoon under the sun, and then they will head out with their friends to hunt for iguanas or go fishing in one of the waterways.

The “Teachings of Don Juan”
At night we meet with Don Juan Cooper, his son and a young musician from a nearby village. As soon as Don Juan begins to play, the corridor of the house is filled with curious townsfolk eager to listen to this man. They can hardly hide their joy at the chance of hearing someone that hardly ever takes out his guitar anymore. One of the bystanders cannot hold his dancing feet and starts to dance alone in the corridor. The sounds of the guitar bring out something very strong in the soul of these people. In this visit we have witnessed how the invasion of the loud generators and stereos in the towns bars have begun to silence an instrument that was once king of the Misquito coasts nights. Later, when I record an interview with Don Juan, he tells me how the evangelical preachers don’t want him to play any of his songs, calling them “worldly” music. I find it sad to see how the Heritage of a people can be so easily erased by the preaching of religious fanatics. For Don Juan, the saddest part is that originally it was foreign missionaries condemning his music, now its Misquito preachers trying to prevent him from playing what they call “the devils music”. “If you get to know them” he adds you can see that they have no education, they have never been beyond La Mosquitia, and don’t know our music can be appreciated in other parts of the world”.

An Old Wooden Church In Brus Laguna

I don’t want my readers to think that Misquito rhythms are something extremely complicated, and exotic, or that it’s a harmonically challenging style. It’s more about the groove, about, the details in the strumming and about finding the “swing” in these African influenced rhythms. There are those great moments when our questions about things we are fascinated by are being satisfied. I am fascinated by the origins of styles and musical genres, where they come from, the unending web and movement of cultures intertwining. Interviewing and playing with Don Juan and the younger Misquito musicians that meet us at night was one of those moments.I have been very intrigued by Misquito guitar and the fascination of the Misquito people with the instrument. Having the chance of not only listening but sharing, asking and just playing with these folk musicians was great.

When I have learned these styles I know I will probably come close to the technique and the timing, but this not being entirely my culture means I will never play like them.When someone like Don Juan Cooper is playing he is not only playing the rhythm. He is playing his life as a child here. He is playing his language, the way he has fished or grown cassava, the maidens he seduced with his playing, the endless full moon nights playing in towns when there were no generators interrupting the singing of the crickets or stereos blasting in the bars. The way that he sees the landscape, and the way his culture views life and death. When someone like Don Juan plays his guitar he plays his culture. A culture we can only embrace, appreciate and respect.

Epilogue

Who is to know what will happen to this music in the future? To judge by the way things are developing in La Mosquitia we are probably witnessing the last signs of survival of these cultural expressions. Despite it being declared World Heritage Site and the work of a few organizations trying to prevent it, this area is being destroyed everyday by illegal woodcutters, uncontrolled fishing and settlers. Traditional culture is always as vulnerable as natural resources. Jose and I begin to talk about a good compilation and a dignified recording of these artists. To this day you cannot find a Misquito music CD in any record store in Honduras. He has been fascinated by the people,the pride they show in their language and by the friendly children who enjoy the happiness of the freedom that comes with growing up here. I am definitely inspired to write, sing and talk about these people, their culture and the importance of preserving this wonderful natural treasure.-


For this trip and project I thank the help of:
Project Biosfera RIO PLATANO - PRORENA BRPMusician an Songwriter Jose F. Molongua German Development Agency (GTZ) Professor John Cooper Wood,Don Juan Cooper Wood The people of Brus Laguna, La Mosquitia, Honduras.
Copyright © GuillermoAnderson.com 2005 Diseño: www.holaceibita.com

Guillermo Anderson Web Site:

www.guillermoanderson.com

ClicK Here To see the video Of El Tesoro Que Tenés

Guillermo Anderson in la Mosquitia

November Morning, Out For A Walk

Out For A Walk

Sometimes I go out for a walk with the clear intention of exercising. However in my case it becomes difficult when a morning like today’s has so much to offer the senses. It was not a sunny morning. Its colors seemed to have been painted differently. The clouds seemed to cover the sky completely and the light it allowed to come through was one I hadn’t seen before.

I stop to listen to the waves. They speak softly as not to wake up the sea. I can hear the tired motor of a boat in the distance. I’m attracted to the lines that barely divide the beach
from the sea and the sky, its pleasant transition of colors.

Under a tree I find the sand carpeted by ripe tropical almonds. They probably fell with last night’s wind and rain. Their color contrasting against the sand catches my eye. I observe this in silence as if witnessing a miracle. I take a green leaf from the tree and symmetrically place a few of the almonds on it. I don’t know why I do it, maybe I wanted to express something , perhaps it was a ritual of sorts, an intimate celebration of the found colors, an offering.


I continue to walk on the beach towards the old peer. The Mountains are clear. They seem to rest from the usual whirlpool of clouds in which they’re usually draped on at this time.

Walking through the old peer I find an old dugout canoe waiting for his owner to return
him to the islands or some far away village. Do I have a fixation with these old dugout canoes, which seem to float in the air against the blue immensity of the Caribbean?

What started out as exercise for the body ended up as one for the soul. Healthy nevertheless! I will save the peace inhaled this morning for at any moment It can come in handy.

Guatemala City And Jamtigua Fest

Its great to be back in Guatemala and walk through beautiful Antigua. We're here to play in TOVAJAZZ in Guatemala City , and Saturday in the JAMTIGUA FEST. in a field in the outskirts of Antigua.

Mario de Mezapa, Essential Singer-Songwriter

Photos By Manuel Lopez

I´m in the Musica del Sol Studios in San Pedro Sula. Recording, on the other side of the console is Mario de Mezapa, recording a song that I think is an unknown clasic in honduran music. The song is “El Cadejo” a song about a honduran mythical carácter a strange dog-like animal that haunts campesinos at night and changes colors. Somehow, Max Urso was able to convince him to take some time from his work at the National Agrarian Institute so after all these years he could do a recording that is up to his excellent songwriting. Mario de Mezapa is a poet, an intellectual who continúes to be true to his campesino origins. But more than that Mario is a Singer–Songwriter . I consider him the essential honduran Singer-songwriter.

Mario began his work as a singer songwriter in the seventies . By then he was already an activist in the most important peasant unions. Mario is well versed in the history of agrarian reform in this country. Luckily for all of us the uphill struggles of agrarian reform have not made him set aside his guitar or his witty sense of humor. In Mario’s songs our traditional myths and legends are very much alive as are the misgivings and the small moments of happiness of our rural poor. It is through his songs that we meet a family who lives in “A Small Bush” at the top of a mountain and the struggles of the many “Marias Full Of Grace” the Marias of the earth.

Im glad to know that after so many promises he’s been made and half- recordings,finally there will be one that will make his songs justice. Once his CD is ready I will some more about this artist whos songs and work with the poorest of the deserves an important place in the history of our countries popular music.

Soon I will be placing a link in this site where you will be able to hear a preview of his new recording.

Bird Feeder King (Story of a Hummingbird)

By Guillermo Anderson

Photos Courtesy Of : http://birdinghonduras.com

Two years ago I bought a hummingbird feeder. After setting it up with home made nectar , we hung it in a corner of aour house facing a garden. We stuck a few flowers in it to attract the little birds and sonner than we thought we had a few of them flying around trying out the new feeder.

Science asigns humminbirds to the Trochiliade family and to the Apodifrme order. I was surprised to learn that they are only second in variety to fly catchers. I had read somewhere that hummingbirds were very territorial but I was not ready for what was about to happen. Of all the birds that came around we saw how one of them, a small one compared to the rest, decided to pose itself in a nearby close line. I became an avid observer of its behaviour. That is how slowly but surely and from the confort of my home I learned a few things about the animal world.

Before installing the feeder, I expected to wake up every morning to enjoy the harmonius flight of a variety of colorful hummingbirds gratefully sharing our home made honey. Not so. Instead of a lesson in harmony the incidents my family and I have witness have been of a very violent nature. When “The Owner” as we have named him sees another bird of its kind fly close to its feeder , the invader whatever its size, is welcomed with a series of fierce attacks.
The whole thing turns into a wild aerial combat after which “The Owner” triumphantly takes back his throne on the clothes line.

It is very interesting how nature in my case has taken care of defying its own stereotypes. This time the stereotype of the docile and passive hummingbird. I was expecting an idyllic scene every morning. I could see myself as San Francisco of Assisi talking to the beautiful and colorful birds as they flew around the feeder. The result is very different, instead we have a very possesive and fierce little bird.

In nature , survival can be a lot more violent than we nature enthusiasts suspect.

Im not accusing our little bird of anything. His behaviour can very posibbly reflect the grade of difficulty for such a fragile bird to survive in a neighborhood where every day there are less gardens and flowers. I wonder if the threatend Emmerald Hummingbird which only exists in the Highly Dry Forest of Yoro in Honduras is also becoming more agressive now that the tractors are destroying its forest to make way for cattle grazing.

More over , If this is happening to humingbirds, what could be happening to humans who like hummingbirds are living in places which are also loosing not only gardens and flowers but also forests , water and other resources.?

It really doesn’t take much to conclude that making survival difficult for the creatures we share the planet with only makes life harder and more violent for all of us.

My family and I have taken a liking to “The Owner”. We love to see him proudly showing his bright chest and orange beak every morning. I have learned to respect him and he has given me a lot to think about. The way things are going around us we have to accept the sad possibility that one of these days a more aggressive hummingbird will appear in its place.

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P.S. Although the bird I write about is not the Honduran Emerald , I was at the end of writing this article when I get an e-mail from Fito Steiner President Of The Pico Bonito National Park Board telling me that he had just been back from Olanchito where he had been trying to stop the tractors from destroying the last there is of the HIghly Dry Forest of Honduras , the only home of the Honduran Emmerald Hummingbird in the world. More information regarding the endangered Honduran Emerald Hummingbird at the American Bird Conservancy Web Site.