WCLC: Mbaporenda (La Esperanza) By Rafael Montero (World Première)
| Dates: | 12 March 2026 |
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| Times: | 13:10 - 13:50 |
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| What is it: | Music concert |
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| Organiser: | Martin Harris Centre |
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| Speaker: | Rafael Montero |
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Replacing the advertised premiere of Ramon Gorigoitia’s Ñandereko due to illness
This project of the ensemble 'El Parnaso Hyspano' is generously supported by the 'Esperanza Trust for Anthropological Research'.
Mbaporenda is a musical stage work based on historical events that have shaped the destiny of the Ava Guarani, Chorote, and Wichi cultures of the Jujuy region in Argentina. The work presents Indigenous songs from Northern Argentina including those extracted under conditions of duress by a German anthropologist, Robert Lehmann Nitsche, in 1905. The singers were being held in bonded labour on a sugar plantation, La Esperanza, in the Jujuy province that was owned and managed by British industrialists from Rochdale, the Leach Brothers. Lehmann Nitsche recorded the songs on wax cylinders (an early recording device) and brought them to Berlin, where they remain in the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, of the Humboldt Forum.
Mbaporenda mixes extracts from these songs with accounts from the diaries of Lehmann Nitsche and other textual materials to tell a profoundly moving story of exploitation of Indigenous South American people by European colonialists, but also of the resilience of the Indigenous voice and its ever-present call for justice and reparation.
The project is the original conception of the Argentinian tenor Rafael Montero, founder and artistic director of the early music ensemble El Parnaso Hyspano, and a descendent of the people whose songs are represented in this composition.
The work lasts 40 minutes and is made up of 9 scenes of approximately 4 minutes duration each.
This concert is organised by the Music Department and also forms part of the events series of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
The Thursday lunchtime concerts are part of the Walter Carroll Lunchtime Concert Series, which is supported by the Ida Carroll Trust. They provide a wide-ranging programme to suit all tastes and are an ideal opportunity to enjoy great music performed by outstanding musicians. There’s no need to book – the concerts are free, and you can just turn up on the day!
Speaker
Rafael Montero
Role: Singer
Organisation: El Parnaso Hyspano
Biography: Rafael Montero is founder and artistic director of the early music ensemble El Parnaso Hyspano. Rafael’s heritage is native American and Spanish. He specialises in renaissance Spanish and South American Baroque music and also in Romantic and contemporary chamber music from Hispanic South America and Spain.
Travel and Contact Information
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Cosmo Rodewald Hall
Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama
Manchester
