The clarinetist Camila Barrientos could see Octavina Cáceres lying on the bed through a video call. She was isolated in a room with her daughter Judith Morales Cáceres, since both receive treatment for the coronavirus. She seemed asleep, recalls the music, when she started to perform the popular piece Bolero , by Maurice Ravel for them. With that regular and unchanging tempo of the melody, the 69-year-old rose like the crescendoof the work, as if he had received a breath of air against the virus. The melody brought her back to 1956 and activated the image of the Mexican comedian Mario Moreno, better known as Cantinflas, hypnotized and dancing to Elaine Bruce's beat to the music of the French composer in the popular 1956 film, Raquel's Bolero . "It seems that since then she has healed us," says the almost seventy-year-old. That act of empathy by Barrientos was part of one of the 355 free mini-concerts that the members of the Bolivian Chamber Music Society offered to listeners directly affected by covid-19.
Music to breathe 24/7 is an initiative that was born in Bolivia with the aim of offering a “sound space of tranquility, peace and well-being” for patients with coronavirus, close relatives of patients, doctors and health workers. Through video calls on WhatsApp, 12 musicians from the Bolivian Chamber Music Society (SBMC) proposed to offer short concerts, lasting between five and 20 minutes, as therapy in the midst of the pandemic. The idea, according to Barrientos, was inspired by a project in the United States in which orchestral performers bring music to hospitals.
“When I thought about the Bolivian reality, not everyone goes to the hospital or cannot go to the hospital because they are collapsed. It had to be open to everyone and for 24 hours. It was like an exercise in empathy towards the medical personnel who are in the emergency rooms or in the rooms where patients with covid-19 are treated. We appreciate and value their work and we wanted to put ourselves in the front line with what we do, which is music ”, emphasizes the also co-founder of SBMC.
In the first stage of the project, which took place from August 10 to 17, approximately 750 listeners were reached with a total of 1,719 minutes of concerts. The mechanics for requesting a presentation were simple. All you had to do was send a message with the request for a recital to the SBMC's social networks and in less than 30 minutes a musician, on duty for 12 hours, was ready to meet the musical demands of his audience. Although the project was born with Bolivia "in mind and heart", the requests for the micro-concerts also came from countries such as the United States, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Panama and Ecuador.
Barrientos, who has been playing the clarinet for 24 years and resides in Brazil, says that orders have increased so much in recent days that seven other invited musicians came in to meet the demand. But not only that, apart from each member of the initiative, they served six hours of extra work as an administrative volunteer to take care of the logistics, receiving messages and directing the listeners to the interpreters.
“We have had calls that have lasted more than half an hour, more than an hour. It is not only the fact that you talk to someone, but that they truly listen to you. By doing these personal concerts we have connected with complete strangers. What a tiring and wonderful experience at the same time ”, says Fernando López, 26, a member of the SBMC who specializes in piano performance in Florida, USA.
From a rehearsal room at the Bower School of Music and Arts, late at night and at dawn, without waking up anyone at the university, López played Bolivian music on the piano to the rhythm of traditional tunes from the Andean-Amazonian country , such as cueca and taquirari, for virtual concerts, as well as classical and international repertoire, which include works by British groups such as The Beatles or Coldplay. The selection of the repertoire, chosen by each musician –with the advice of the Bolivian composer and music therapist Teresa Laredo–, included a classical piece, an international piece and a typical piece from the different regions of Bolivia. "Teresa recommended that we not show virtuosity or pompous things, but rather deliver relief and calm to people," adds the pianist.
Bolivia is at the peak of the pandemic, with more than 112,000 cases and close to 5,000 deaths. Health centers are almost saturated and more than 1,000 positives are reported daily. During the week of the micro-concerts, Dr. Patricia Ricaldi felt that she was on the verge of collapse. Before starting her shift at the National Health Fund in Villamontes, in southern Bolivia - almost 100 kilometers from the border with Argentina - she saw the ad on Facebook and decided to try her luck. She had no real expectations that they would answer her. Half an hour later they confirmed that Brazilian trumpeter Bruno Lourensetto was going to play for her. “Beyond medical care, we have to provide support and that makes us repress many feelings, which in the long run affect us. I did not feel well that day, the music helped me to control my anxiety, to improve my mood, "she says.
Barrientos says that each mini-concert was like traveling to the world of a different person, so the Bolivian Chamber Music Society is already beginning to think about the next seasons of Music to breathe 24/7 . He dreams of, one day, holding a concert in all the cities that participated and being able to meet all the people he was playing for. “We did not think that the desire to do something as beautiful as this initiative was going to spread. That it does not stop, it does not stop ”, declares Flores, with an air of determination and optimism.
