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!
PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS ON A THURSDAY
THURSDAY 12 March 13.10 (UK time). The concert will be in person, in the Cosmo Rodewald Hall, Martin Harris Centre. Related events will be held in the Manchester Museum and room G16, Martin Harris Centre
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!
Following the concert, participants are invited to come along to Manchester Museum's Cafe to chat with performers and organisers. Participants can also attend an object session, coordinated by Dr Alexandra Alberda (curator of Indigenous Perspectives at the Museum), focusing on the museum’s South American collections. Spaces for the session will be limited. Details to follow on the day, after the concert.
Finally, a free public roundtable exploring the issues of the colonial misappropriation of songs raised by Ñandereko will follow as part of the Music Department’s weekly research seminar series. The roundtable will be introduced and chaired by John Sloboda (Emeritus Professor, Guildhall School of Music & Drama), with the participation of Rafael Montero, along with Alexandra Alberda (curator of Indigenous Perspectives, Manchester Museum), Caroline Bithell (Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Manchester), Jon Mitchell (Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Sussex), and David Stirrup (Professor of English, University of York). The roundtable will be held at at 4.30 pm in room G16, in the Martin Harris Centre.
