Asia

El Sistema Japan welcomed the musicians of the Ensemble Lara Somos, from Venezuela, at Japan’s El Sistema Festival 2018 last month.  Ensemble Lara Somos gave a number of presentations, and were joined by Japanese Sistema students in a gala concert conducted by Enluis Montes Olivar at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater on 1 December.

Some exciting news from El Sistema Japan: they are planning a music festival in April 2020 as a pre-event for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2020 in Tokyo. They will bring together over 200 children from the worldwide El Sistema family, bridging differences in nationality, religion and ability.  The festival represents a celebration of social inclusion—an element essential to open the door for lasting peace. “This is a great opportunity to contribute to world peace by sharing the power of music,” says Yutaka Kikugawa, the founder and executive director of Friends of El Sistema Japan.

Are young musicians in El Sistema programs aware of the global Sistema movement? Some have met through joint performances, but what about students in countries that are farther away? Do students in Brazil, for example, know of their music peers in New Zealand or Kenya?

The Philippines-based Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) made its Middle East debut last month.

Each Saturday, nearly one hundred young people from all corners of the Philippines come together for a day of music-making with the Orchestra for Filipino Youth (OFY) at the Rockwell Business Center in Metro Manila. Even though some students have to catch early morning boats in order to get there—as early as 5 o’clock sometimes—the musicians are prepared and attentive come the downbeat at 10.

Weeks seven and eight of my international adventure were spent in New Delhi visiting the Shubhendra and Saskia Rao Foundation. This husband-wife duo of internationally renowned musicians created the program Sangeet4All, a music education curriculum with the mission to empower and uplift people through the rich culture of Indian classical music.

Sistema New Zealand had its National Hui (gathering) on 30 June in Hamilton, central North Island of New Zealand. This biennial gathering included Sistema Whangarei, Sistema Aotearoa, Arohanui Strings and the hosts were Sistema Waikato. The New Zealand Rōpū (consortium) operates by a memorandum of understanding rather than by a centralised administration, and preparation for the event included Skype meetings to create the type of event and then to agree on shared repertoire.

We just passed the darkest part of the Sistema world year in the Southern Hemisphere and the lightest part of the year in the North—do you know what the BUSIEST place in the Sistema world is all year long?  It’s Sistema Global, especially their Facebook page.

Ensemble Nambanga, a new El Sistema-inspired ensemble of young string students, is taking shape in Port Vila, the capital city of the Pacific island nation Vanuatu.  The name Nambanga refers to the banyan tree. Banyans are deep-rooted, strong trees that grow to enormous proportions and have deep spiritual meaning for the Vanuatu people.