Last Friday, 19 September, marked the 111th anniversary of the creation of Alma Llanera, a piece of music considered to be the second national anthem of my country, Venezuela. For this reason, the Orchestra System was invited by the cultural centre to perform this song and other folk songs. All the children and young musicians attended, as well as the choir I belong to, making it my first public performance 😁🤭. This was my first experience singing in a choir, and I want to tell you all about how the day went.
Organisation of the event
The invitation was made by the mayor's office a week before, everything was rushed, and the choir rehearsed the song Alma Llanera first on their own and then with the orchestra. All the children already know it because they have sung it before. This song is not very long, but unlike the children, I forgot one verse 😔. I never learned it, so I felt a little anxious.
The Orchestra System is an initiative that was started in 1975 in the capital by Professor Antonio Abreu. Over the years, this initiative has spread throughout the country, where they teach music free of charge to children and young people to promote the values of discipline, cooperation and teamwork, with the aim of transforming social reality. Although this system has been around for many years, it is only now that I have been able to join, as the centre is close to where I live and allows me to do something different in my routine.
Choir performance
The choir only rehearses twice a week, and the school year has just begun, so we had four rehearsals before this day. Apart from Alma Llanera, we were going to sing a song from the Democratic Republic of Congo called Sisi Banaha. Although the lyrics don't make sense in my Spanish, I know that it has a beautiful energy when sung, and we all like it.
In the end, it was the only song the choir performed because, apart from our core orchestra, there was also the regional orchestra, and they brought a soloist who performed Alma Llanera.
My performance with the choir was due to certain circumstances. First, because I had the uniform, which was a long-sleeved white shirt that I was given years ago, and the black trousers were ones I used to wear as part of my uniform when I worked as a teacher. Those clothes fit me by chance because last year I lost 10 kilos 😅, otherwise they wouldn't have fit me, so having the uniform and with no impediments from the system's organisation, I joined this group of children. The good thing is that most of them are my height or even taller than me, so let's say I don't spoil the group photo. I mention this because I am the only adult in the choir.
If you haven't seen me in the pictures, I'm the girl with silver hair 🤭😬. The activity was carried out in a timely, organised and harmonious manner. There was a very nice dance group and I ended up happy to have had this experience. As we Venezuelans say, I attended without fear of success.
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