Rosario August 8, 2013

BCS Argentina

Thursday, August 8

Rosario

At rehearsal last night, Kimani taught the group a new West African dance—a Yoruban prayer to the ancestors who watch over us. As the rhythm took over the body from the head, the kids started to feel that there was no beginning or end. They simply began to move as a unit, with Kimani in the lead. From the Yoruban dance, Kimani led the dancers into an Argentinian tango, telling them that the concept of tango is “el chaite” where, metrically, the orchestra has to follow the singer who can slow it down or speed it up for the dancers. These two dances are not for performance, they are to promote inner peace (in the first instance) and group harmony in the second. As Kimani likes to say, the arts are all one with human understanding. So too these dances help keep our singers united as one.

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Today’s visit to Rosario took us just blocks from yesterday’s gas explosion, which imploded an apartment building, but the city moves forward as if nothing went wrong. Shoppers fill the central avenues near the Museo Culturale. Streets team with cars and buses seemingly intent on mowing down pedestrians, only to prove themselves strong believers in traffic laws when they stop suddenly at red lights. Waiters in local cafes bustle among businessmen cutting deals over their afternoon coffees. Were it not for the stray dogs in the town square, downtown Rosario could be mistaken for a well-heeled French city.

The museum of the disappeared is a reality check in the midst of what appears to be happy prosperity. The Museo de la Memoria makes fresh the assassinations and kidnappings of the “Dirty War,” where between 9,000 and 30,000 people were killed for voicing their opposition to the government. The museum is housed in a French plaza-style compound that once served as the home of the State Police. At Juan Peron’s death in 1974, Isabel Peron, Juan’s second wife, briefly took power. Known for authorizing the “Triple A” assassins who targeted trade union opponents (357 deaths in 1976), Isabel was also a weak president. As the military gathered force, she was thrown out of power in 1976. The military government then instituted a witch hunt for dissidents, stalking anyone who voiced political opposition. The museum is a tribute to the disappeared, beginning with a visit of the police compound and tower where prisoners were interrogated and killed.

Today, the same building that once housed the prisoners of the military dictatorship now serves as a training center for democracy. As we walked by, we could see teachers training poll workers on their duties in the upcoming election on Sunday, and we talked about the small gratification we took in knowing that this terrible place now serves to promote transparency and democracy.

Tonight’s performance benefited the Sol de Noche, a local homeless shelter funded by San Bartolomo's Church. Despite a long day of sight-seeing, a mid-day performance at Colegio San Bartomolo, and a long way to dinnertime, the singers were stunning to behold. Celia left the stage saying her face hurt from smiling only to be approached by a woman in the audience thanking her for the chorus’s beautiful performance. Celia just continued to smile. The giddy post-concert energy carried the bus home to our hotel where a dinner of American-style hamburgers awaited at 10:30 pm. Now at 11:20 pm, lights are out and we don’t have to get up until 8. The later wake-up time feels like a mini-vacation.