Honey for peace

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Late spring, the disturbed workers gathered in the royal cell along with their queen to form a platoon for the future of the colony. It was a reality: ants and other bugs were extinguishing the drones!

The first, one of the workers, exclaimed: —Let's abandon this honeycomb, and move to a hidden place where nothing can harm us.

—Wherever we go there will always be bugs with which we will have differences and perhaps even conflicts —answered the queen bee.

The second, a drone bee proposed: —let's produce the most powerful poison in the world! Let's throw it on plants, flowers and stems, let's kill off all the ants there are, they are to blame for our extinction.

"We bees are not violent insects, we bring honey, well-being and sustenance to the entire world," the queen responded again.

Finally, another of the workers spoke, who stood out for her great wisdom: —We know that ants are our enemies, and we inhabit the same space, but we both take care of the ecosystem and are essential to pollinate, without this the crops do not grow and Without crops there is no food, neither for humans nor for animals. Our life is short, and today more than ever we must work with love to sweeten many more lives.

From the great colony, the queen bee summoned the anthill, for the first time in history they reconciled and repaired scars, and understood how important it was to live together peacefully, take more care of the environment, and work with love.

This short story is inspired by the story of the Giraldo Areiza family, made up of Dayron Giraldo, Alba Rosa Areiza and their son Mateo Cuero, who is part of the Reconciliation Choir (an initiative of the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, a commitment to peace in which signatories and victims of the Colombian armed conflict, join their voices to sing in harmony) from the age of twelve; a family permeated by the Colombian armed conflict and in which the parents were members of the unarmed Farc-EP militias for more than fifteen years, currently signatories of peace.

Northeast of Medellín, in the Santo Domingo Savio neighborhood, this family exchanged the bitterness of violence for a sweet venture, a beekeeping and coffee growing field. Currently, Honey and Coffee La Esperanza produces more than forty kilos of honey per year and three pounds of coffee per year, and benefits more than fifty farming families in the municipality of Anorí. “Bees teach us to live in community and work as a team to serve others,” says Dayron, who affirms that in his business there is a spirit of cooperation and there are no differences, “…we can be in the same space with different people who were part of it.” of armed groups and even victims, that is healing.”

In that tireless search to repair their lives and heal, this family found in the Reconciliation Choir a hopeful experience for their son Mateo, who is passionate about cooking, chemistry, cello and choral music. And the choir has become a commitment to give a voice to those people who historically lost the possibility of speaking out due to the armed conflict.

Symphony under the sea

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Kelly has always been fascinated by swimming and music, until he dreams that he dives, with his alto saxophone, into a deep sea to invite many species to play the Symphony Under the Sea, a work dedicated to marine biodiversity, also because The animals make “pretty” sounds and for her that is music. And that is what the piece would be titled if he ever had the opportunity to compose, because his creativity has no limits. She's even thought of a brief description in her program notes, she says, “fish, whales, dolphins and my family in submarines would be invited to this great presentation. Starfish would play the violins, clownfish would play the flutes, seahorses would play the trumpets, and an octopus would do all the percussion, because it has eight tentacles.”

Kelly Montoya Monsalve is 30 years old and is part of Soy Músico, a Filarmed program that creates musical experiences for people with disabilities and/or neurodivergents. At the age of one and a half she was diagnosed with moderate cognitive delay and at sixteen years of age with retinitis pigmentosa, which is why her vision is minimal. “When he was first diagnosed, the doctor assured me that he would not be able to study, and that he would even have difficulty developing his motor skills. In our case, since she was five years old, we insisted on her learning various activities to stimulate her brain, including music," says Dora Luz Monsalve, her mother, who also says that her greatest strength is love and his gift of service, “…because that's what life is, you have to be helping others, that fills me with vitality.”

Kelly was a high school graduate, never missed a school year, practices swimming, loves watching soccer and is a National fan. He currently studies music at the Network of Music Schools in the Aranjuez neighborhood and is even part of a musical group for people with disabilities where he sings and plays violin. And he also plays his favorite songs on the piano, he does it as a hobby.

He likes Beethoven because he is a symbol of freedom, hope and improvement. “The genius of Bonn stimulates my creativity; I love listening to the hymn of joy from his Ninth and with the Fifth Symphony I have a very special memory: I used to listen to it on CD with my brother before we went to sleep,” says the musician.

“Kelly is blind, therefore, he has a good memory. This year she started with the rhythmic thing, because she was very melodic, at first it was difficult for her, but she already has a very good grip on the sticks and plays well. She is attentive, willing and very dedicated, she easily expresses her emotions; She takes the instructions into account, she is very good at her instrument, the violin,” says Verónica Restrepo, music therapist at Soy Músico.

Music in the mind

His limited vision has not prevented him from reading his favorite book The Chronicles of Narnia 5: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and he even imagines playing the violin within the story. It is said that people with degenerative vision diseases are particularly fast at remembering things in the correct order and this is the case with Kelly, when learning sheet music: “her memory is out of this world. He has an amazing ability to memorize music. She is very disciplined. First the teachers send me the scores by email, she reads them from her tablet line by line, she learns them by heart and at the concert she doesn't need to look at them. For me it's like he has a tape recorder in his brain, because he learns music from one day to the next," says the mother.

This is Kelly, tender, smiling, friendly, full of light and who at the age of five discovered a deep love for music. Her disability has become a driving force to bring joy to her family and to everyone who has heard her in concert.

Postscript

“I am very proud of my mother because she does everything with a lot of love; “She is my favorite superhero.”

To the rhythm of Sandra

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Pulse

Máximo has a good heart, he does not judge and when he arrives at his favorite place, the garden, he is kind to everyone. For Máximo—or Max as he is known—it is no secret that he loves to be the center of attention, he does not like to be ignored. Whether in exchange for caresses, pampering or massages, he is always behind Sandra Gómez to receive some recognition. But not everything is perfect for him, if there is something that torments him it is percussion music; Even when her owner is ready to rehearse, she always interrupts, she says, “she takes away my sheet music, knocks down my drumsticks, puts her paws on my legs, immobilizes me!” And although a couple of months ago he completely destroyed some castanets, he is deeply loved, because he has unconditionally accompanied Sandra through the good and not so good times.

Dogs like music, but the type of music makes a difference. They prefer slower rhythms, simple patterns and lower frequencies; On the contrary, fast rhythms and higher frequencies alter your canine nervous system; That's why Sandra is thinking about performing a marimba song dedicated to Max, because this instrument has a lower tonality than the other percussion instruments.

If one day he stopped loving music, walking dogs would be his perfect vocation; For now, percussion is the way he releases extreme emotions. “Personally, I feel identified with the characteristics of percussion. For example, when you interact with others and you feel impetuous because of an argument, you have to be flexible to change your mind and not lose control, because if I let myself be carried away by my impulses, everything could go wrong," and the same thing happens in the music in Carmina Burana there is a blow of glockenspiel* that accompanies the wind instruments, I must think to their rhythm; When I exert force I have to fall softer to join in harmony. That's how it happens in life itself when we interact, it's not bad to put myself in the other person's shoes," says the percussionist.

Intensity in two revolutions

For sixteen years she has been a percussionist with the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, but her life in music began at the age of three when her parents enrolled her in the Diego Echavarría Musical Institute and in the conservatory of the University of Antioquia, where she learned body expression and What she remembers most: “relating everyday objects to memorize the rhythmic figures of music,” she says. First it was the violin, but it was very difficult for him to read sheet music; then the piano, but he was never passionate about it, and he even practiced dancing.

First revolution. “I wanted a much more active, energetic art form!” That's how he discovered drums at the age of nine at school.

With rhythm and melody in his heart, he graduated from high school, but decided to study industrial engineering. “Without realizing it, I discovered that mathematics and music go hand in hand, both are universal and abstract languages that require learning to be able to decipher them. They both seek beauty. For example, percussion requires a metronome to indicate the correct tempo and uses numbers to divide rhythmic measures.”

Second revolution. "I needed to vent! I cut off my engineering studies because my spirit and mind were in percussion, so I ended up studying a degree in music at EAFIT University. I was happy".

Variations
Three words that define you
“Hope, encouragement and perseverance”

Which is your favorite place?
“The garden where I walk Max and my study cubicle because I find myself.”

What percentage of your life have you dedicated to music?
“A 65% of my life I have spent playing and rehearsing.”

What is the concert you remember most?
"The Turangalila Symphony by Oliver Messiaen. For me it is the most musically complex work, a miracle that happened in Medellín!”

What is the best thing about Sandra?
“Sincerity, I am direct, blunt, I get to the point!”

*The glockenspiel (from German Glocken, "bells", and Spiel, "play", "play") is an idiophone percussion instrument, which consists of a set of tuned metal plates. Also known as a bell set, metal harmonica or lyre, if it has its frame this way

Under the tree

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One time, Luz Mery was in a nature reserve in the municipality of Barbosa. While there, she took off her sneakers and socks, sat down and put her feet on the grass, waiting for something to happen. After several minutes, she began to feel a positive mood growing within her. It was a simple experience that marked a before and after in his life. He felt a sense of peace flow throughout his body.

"Today I'm freeing myself from tension," she told Madroño, the tree with colorful fruits that was right in front, which, although it didn't speak to her, it did listen to her, she said.

—Madroño! Do you want to continue listening to my story? —Luz Mery asked—

The tension was an emotional burden since, at the age of five, she and her siblings were displaced by violence from Restrepo, Valle del Cauca, to Medellín.

—I lived happily in the countryside, playing and helping with the housework, until the atrocious violence of the guerrillas stalked the area and my parents decided to send us to live with an aunt in Medellín in the Robledo neighborhood, Miramar. There I thought that everything would change, but it didn't… —He told Madroño, while hugging him—

In the eighties, fear, terror and perplexity took over the streets of the neighborhood and the entire city; The spring evenings were overshadowed by the darkness of the hitman and even the weapons extinguished the family celebrations, the conscience and the life of one of Luz Mery's brothers.

—Imagine Madroño! What I experienced in Robledo was worse and I experienced it firsthand, it left me with many consequences. I felt anger, my heart was breaking. And I realized that revenge fuels pain more; I decided not to bow my head and transform my life with words, dance, singing and social work. Because where I can sing I can laugh and where there is love, there is a powerful force called reconciliation.

But what do you think I'm doing wrong? Not everything in my life is going well. I suffer from spinal cord cancer due to my long hours smelting lead in a factory in Itagüí and I was even left alone raising my children. Ah, but I have also had moments where I have given love! Like when I play soccer, I bathe and hug the street dwellers who live on the banks of the Medellín River, because they want to be heard and welcomed. I even know a local who speaks seven languages and teaches others to write.

I didn't have love and I want to give it now. I live every day as if it were my last.

Madroño knew that he had to prepare for winter, and while he received Luz Mery's strong hug, he let his leaves fall on her as a sign of gratitude for what she had told him; He made a lattice with his roots and some flowers for her to rest on. Then he lay down with a sweet smile and slept soundly under the tree.

This short story is written to commemorate the life of Luz Mery González, who was a victim of the country's armed conflict and decided to heal his life by joining, since 2022, the Reconciliation Choir, the Medellín Philharmonic's commitment to peace. Luz Mery passed away on Sunday, August 6, 2023.

The sweet life

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Tomás claims that the spinach pies with ricotta cheese that he prepares are what Popeye the sailor eats, which gives him super strength to defeat Brutus, the villain. He also says that before preparing food it is important to organize the preparation. This technique is known as Mise en place, comes from French and means, “put in its place”; a kind of visual script in the kitchen that allows us to be effective without being overwhelmed. Also “you must weigh the flour, the salt and even the milk,” he says; add water, sugar, oil to create the preferment. All of these are necessary ingredients for the dough, that powerful mixture that serves as a base for baking the delicious pastries filled with meat and chicken with pesto, or for preparing apple cookies and even the red fruit and arequipe horns from “Consentidos Tomás”, his family business. “I am also in charge of making the awning beautiful in the front garden of my house to invite all the residents of Envigado to indulge and sweeten the lives of all the residents of Envigado, oh and also get paid!” he expresses.

Tomás Camilo Arango Pulgarín, son of Vilma Pulgarín and Mario Arango, is twenty-four years old; He was diagnosed, at the age of five, with Asperger's syndrome*. He deeply loves gastronomy, soccer, painting, aerobics and is part of UIncluye, an educational program for populations with intellectual disabilities at the University of Antioquia; and Soy Músico, a Filarmed program that creates musical experiences for people with disabilities. “Music for me means tranquility, it is my moment of recreation, it helps me be happy and enjoy life. I love the piano because it is magical, it helps me do things calmly.” He also awakens his talent and creativity when he paints, he says: “my favorite colors are terracotta, citrus green, sunflower yellow, fiery and Christmas reds, and I love sky blue. They are my favorites because they are very appropriate for painting landscapes and places in the world. I don't like gray ones, they're boring. I love colors, because that is life itself, full of color.”

Mario, his father, is sixty years old, and conveys tranquility while speaking, a state that has been a support for him and his wife who have not “thrown in the towel” as he says. “This whole process has been a daily struggle, even with the world; They have closed the doors to us in many places, we have received many refusals. And then everything must be done with love and patience, filling ourselves with courage to become titans. Many families want this type of disability to be made visible and achieve the rights they deserve,” he says, who states that in our city—even in the country—there is still lack of knowledge and there is a lack of effective public policies related to health and recreation, as well as spaces for access to university programs adapted to the adult autistic population. “And this is an even more disturbing issue because if their rights are not guaranteed, it will be much more complex to enhance their abilities to make them autonomous and useful people in work and social life. “A true dignity of the person.”

“May he be happy in what he does,” Mario expresses affectionately, while looking into his son's eyes during the interview. Tomás has had the privilege of having the support of his parents, who have taught him to navigate human situations such as commitment, conflict, risk, difficulty, deception; They also motivate him to always be active and stimulated. “Tomás is aware that we are not going to be around forever. He must learn to have control of his own life,” says the mother.

On the other hand, music therapist Deisy Gaviria from Soy Músico, says that, although it is sometimes difficult for him to handle frustration when he does not achieve an exercise, Tomás is perseverant and has musical sensitivity; In addition, he shows empathy towards his classmates, is always very willing to learn and really enjoys music. He is respectful, attentive to the needs of others and likes to start conversations taking others into account.

Tomás dreams of sweetening many more lives with his entrepreneurship. “Continue with my studies, including exploring music and painting more and more to become a better human being…my family symbolizes well-being. They help me not make mistakes and be at peace. "I thank my parents for their love and for helping me understand the world."

*People with Asperger's (which, due to the new diagnostic classification, has been called Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1), are characterized by having difficulties sustaining social interaction or communicating, according to the typical parameters of society. They tend to require inflexible routines in their daily lives and care intensely about some interests that are particular to them.

Sol-idarity Key

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The confinement measures made us take refuge at home for a year and a half and made it impossible for human beings to enjoy the outside world, except for some animals that went out to occupy the streets in search of food, others to enjoy the low pollution. After completing the quarantine and endless hours of recording to broadcast virtual concerts, the oboist Cristian Cardenas He felt the need to do something beyond music, he wanted to walk—an everyday activity that we were deprived of during the pandemic. For him, walking, in addition to its benefits for physical health, helps reflect and mental well-being.

He still remembers the steps he took in the countryside to get to his school, because he studied in a rural school, and the endless hours walking throughout Bogotá when he needed to have internal dialogues, “I think I walked through the entire city,” says Cárdenas.

The musician has been hiking for five years, it is an activity that he loves because it allows him to have a healthy relationship with the planet; but during the pandemic he had to interrupt it. Cristian is a native of Bogotá, he says he loves Medellín for the climate, for its hills and mountains, “discovering its landscapes blew my mind,” he says with emotion.

Trip

And that need to return to the outside world, two years ago, led him to have one of the best experiences of his life in La Guajira, a six-day adventure that began in the municipality of Uribia and ended in Punta Gallinas. A trip that transformed his life.

“We slept in a rancheria, there are no hotels there. There are only rancherías that provide that service, there is no internet. There is electricity because they have a generator, so they turn it on during certain hours of the day, the same with water…we slept in a hammock.”

For the oboist, the landscapes that can be seen are amazing, the intense yellow color predominates, the plains are immense and in the middle of the desert you can see the traditional Wayúu rancherías, where children take the opportunity to put up small “checkpoints” and ask for toys, cookies or sweets. to the tourists. All this natural wealth contrasts with the poverty experienced there, between the lack of drinking water, extractivism, wind farms and the humanitarian crisis. The Wayúu survive dispossession and food insecurity; hunger strikes them.

The Wayúu* people have struggled with the natural adversities of the Guajira region, a land of sun, sand and wind, in addition to facing discrimination, racism, marginalization and violence by some non-indigenous inhabitants of the region. The DANE Census reported approximately 270,413 people who recognize themselves as belonging to the Wayúu people, a figure that positions this indigenous people as the largest in the country.

“It was a seven-hour journey in the desert, all the time children stopped us to ask for food. It shocked me a lot because we were going for a walk, but we found a very harsh reality even though the landscapes were beautiful; It was something very strong. I feel that the true value of that walk was the spirit of solidarity that was awakened in me. I saw how the children even fought over food and toys. I feel that we are obliged to establish a policy of solidarity with others that helps improve the quality of life of these inhabitants, since they are people who are abandoned and my duty as a citizen is not to be oblivious to that reality. I think that after music, my mission in life is to help those most in need.”

And it was this experience during this trip that planted a feeling of solidarity in Cristian Cárdenas, a virtue that will motivate him to continue walking through the country to get to know its landscapes and be in solidarity with the communities that inhabit them. He is already preparing to tour the Pacific and the Amazon, he says: “solidarity is key to supporting the most vulnerable in our country to have a better life.”

Music

Cristian Cárdenas has been an oboe player with the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra since 2018. He is part of a musical family from Pasca, Cundinamarca. He has two siblings, Valentina, a violinist, and Julián, a harpist, who currently live, study and work in Spain and China, respectively; and with whom in 2010 he had the opportunity to share the same stage with the Batuta Orchestra of Bogotá. “Since then I never met them again, it would be very exciting to share music in concert again,” says the oboist, a graduate of the National University of Colombia, with two master's degrees in interpretation and orchestra from the Musikschule Trossingen, Germany.

“Composers use the oboe and the English horn in very special moments of the works, many times they are the most melancholic and beautiful in music where these instruments have a great solo. Our job is to move the public.”

* Also known as Guajiro, Wayu, Uáira, Waiu. The word Wayúu is a self-designation used by indigenous people and translates “person” in general, indigenous of one's own ethnic group, ally and also, the partner (husband or wife).

Music is felt and played

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Music is felt and played 
Filarmed does workshops for people with hearing disabilities

“We are an orchestra that is designed to reach all populations, particularly those that have not traditionally had access to cultural rights” María Catalina Prieto, executive director

  • The Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra will teach workshops aimed at people with hearing disabilities. The workshops will be held on days Wednesday 21st and Saturday 24th June in Palermo Cultural.
  • These people will experience synesthesia: they will feel the sound of the orchestra instruments with touch and sight.
  • The musical program has the support of the network Musical Care International Network, a care through music project from the Royal College of Music in London.

Workshops with free registration
June Dates:
Wednesday 21 (4:30 pm to 6:30 pm)
Saturday 24th (3:00 pm to 5:00 pm)
Location: Palermo Cultural, Coliseum

I Am a Musician is the program that creates spaces for participation in musical experiences and concerts for people with disabilities. And this year he wants to bring music to people with hearing disabilities. In this way, Filarmed seeks for this population to guarantee their rights to cultural citizenship, and to promote greater opportunities for inclusion in the community in general.

This year it has decided to convene and hold workshops specifically aimed at people with hearing disabilities, generating spaces for contact, expression and enjoyment of music through vibrations, tactile, and visual. A sign language interpreter will participate in the workshop supporting the team of program facilitators; We also seek to know the participants' habits of approach to music, to begin thinking about ideas for inclusive orchestral formats.

According to the National Quality of Life Survey carried out by DANE, until 2021 in Colombia there are around 460 thousand people who classify themselves as a person with some level of hearing disability. Some of them with congenital pathologies and others who, having been born hearing, have been losing their hearing over the years.

Together, we vibrate stronger 

This year the program became a scholarship recipient of the Musical Care International Network, one of the most important networks in the world that brings together various entities to explore paths of care through music from different disciplinary and cultural perspectives.

A wide range of care practices through music are developed on the network, from music therapy experiences, community music, to health campaigns. “The support of Musical Care will allow us to acquire new knowledge and energize workshops with various didactic and sensory methodologies,” explained Juanita Eslava, coordinator of the Soy Músico program.

The call is open to the entire population with a hearing disability. “Musicians from Filarmed will participate in our workshops and will present their instruments and we will seek to create immersive experiences from different senses to bring participants closer to the world of the orchestra and music,” explained the coordinator.

The Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra will generate spaces for enjoyment through music for this community, understand how they approach music as a well-being strategy, and become short-term promoters of experiences designed not only for the enjoyment of the listening community. —as has been traditional in orchestras— but also for non-listeners.

Sign up here

good grass always lives

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There is a township southwest of Medellín that is named after a saint and even houses a 129-year-old church. There in San Antonio de Prado—with narrow streets and muleteers who transport tobacco, wood and liquor—there is a village where Virginia Saldarriaga, born in 1962, lives.

In her house there is a garden where she plants marjoram, rosemary, arnica and joy; On the sidewalk they say that they are their friends and nurses because they cure even lovesickness. Essences, candles and other concoctions are painstakingly prepared there. And he is so devoted to his plants that he asks their permission to even steal a piece of them.

One day Virginia realized that some plants were not growing and others were growing with their heads down.

—Surely it's that witch! “The one who dances at midnight in the garden and makes my plants die of fear,” exclaimed Virginia to her daughter Jenny Saldarriaga, director of the Medellín Music Network.

He says that when the witch approached the garden the plants suffered a lot since they knew that she would step on them and mistreat them. Virginia, still grieving and sad, decided to bring her plants back to life by singing and playing tiple and lyre, two instruments that she loved to play at the age of five with her father in Cartago, a municipality in Valle del Cauca.

One night Virginia mistakenly drank a potion of aguapanela that the witch had left on the table. She immediately fell into a deep sleep that enveloped her in a terrifying darkness, from which she seemed to never wake up. She felt so weak and plagued by strange hallucinations that she lost all hope.

In the midst of his anguish he began to look back on his life in music and the joys it had given him. Singing Christmas carols at her first communion mass, participating in the Cartago children's choir, founding the Cantos de Antioquia choir and remembering seeing her daughter graduate from the EAFIT music faculty thanks to a scholarship, were memories that motivated her to wake up that deep dream and thinking that through singing she could save her life and even give life to others. After this rebirth, the witch was never seen on the sidewalk again and all her plants grew fresh, green, full of energy.

The story is inspired by the life of Virginia Saldarriaga who is a peace activist and has been a member of the Reconciliation Choir since 2022. She is passionate about sowing and singing, and her entire life was dedicated to music until a diagnosis of cancer, which kept her in death. clinic for fifteen days, they made her forget about her love for singing. After that particular episode, he says he was filled with courage to be reborn as plants do and reaffirmed his mission in life: to heal the soul through music and heal the body through planting.

“For me, the Reconciliation Choir means rebirth, healing through singing, and the most wonderful thing is finding people who are looking for the same thing. What I like most is seeing the harmony of all my classmates in rehearsals and singing one of my favorite songs, Nothing for War.”

In the heart of Camilo

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The brave and revolutionary personality of Shostakovich—a Russian composer determined to make his voice heard and who took enormous risks to do so due to the horrors of Stalinism—is what captivates 26-year-old Camilo Martínez, artist, musician and queer, who works as a supernumerary violinist of the Medellín Philharmonic.

Camilo lives in San Antonio de Prado with his parents, studies a master's degree in arts at the U. of A. and loves the versatility of his instrument. We talked to him about his life, his scars, his dreams.

FILARMED: What was your first experience in music like?

CAMILO MARTINEZ: It was with the soundtrack of Disney's Fantasia, I was 5 years old. Also, my parents always played me a couple of records with music by Vivaldi and Beethoven; It was the sound of the violin that caught my attention the most.

F: Is it true that a teaching concert transformed your life?

CM: I was 11 years old when Filarmed visited my school, where my mother is also a teacher. I had never had the opportunity to see a philharmonic orchestra live. I was delighted. I remember that my mother and I approached Manuel López, assistant concertmaster, to ask him what the world of music was like; That's where we found out about this possibility and I said I wanted to be a violinist.

F: Why do you like the violin?

CM: For the versatility. Its sound capacity can be wild but also mellifluous, as harmonious as it is uncomfortable. And everything that bothers me fascinates me, it is a quality, because it makes me rethink, zoom in or out and be attentive, looking forward to seeing different perspectives on life.

F: What if the violin were a human being...?

CM: He would be influential, ambiverted and risk-taking.

F: Who is your favorite composer?

CM: Shostakovich because he is a symbol of resilience, healing and rebellion, that for me is vital.

F: What are you passionate about doing in your free time?

CM: I love painting. When I left undergraduate school I wanted to continue studying, but I didn't want more violin in the traditional way, I wanted something that would enrich me artistically. In the master's degree I was able to explore the interstices of the arts, an experience in which I can discover how far painting and poetry go; That's where I use my free time to understand myself and things that music wouldn't allow me to do on its own; For example, talking about the meaning of death in a broad way, investigating its spellings, its possibilities, layers, non-verbal languages and mournful nuances where the violin has been fundamental to me; and yet I looked for something further in the aesthetic experience, both visual and conceptual, as well as sound.

F: What does death mean?

CM: It is something versatile because it depends on the type of death; It can be liberation or it can be the worst wound when you are the person left and suffers that loss. For me, life is lived until it can be lived, otherwise it is a liberation. In short, death makes us rethink life and give it a different value, it even reminds me of Wagner at the end of his opera Tristan und Isolde, because just when Tristan dies, Isolde goes into ecstasy, is transfigured and enters another dimension. , neither alive nor dead, but she is happy since she is finally going to be with her loved one; That concept of new existence seems extremely powerful to me.

I also like to redefine grief. Seven years ago a cousin died with whom I felt very identified, she was my reflection; and it was that loss that brought out many feelings in me to encounter painting, music and poetry. The pain becomes a scar and a rethinking of life.

F: How do you manifest that “liberation” through art?

CM: I love oil painting, watercolor and drawing. I like to experiment with techniques, I believe that materials such as sound or plastics speak for themselves through their own material qualities that are sometimes scars or textures. And it is precisely those scars that allow me to investigate life, you just have to sharpen your eyes to notice and read them, and know that liberation is based on finding your own meanings that have nothing to do with prejudices or what is established, this is speaking. of healing and the textures that mark our skin, is to celebrate the scar.

“Scars are flexibility. I make the analogy with a street that at first is pristine and flat but over time it will require flexibility and will generate a crack in the pavement because the earth is always in motion. When this crack is generated it speaks of a need for flexibility to adapt to the environment. For me that is a scar, flexibility, adaptation and memory.”

F: What does beauty mean?

CM: Beauty does not exist if there is no authenticity. Beauty is not perfection. Authenticity is beauty, seeing the object and the person as they are, with scars and imperfections.

F: And love…?

CM: It is freedom. Wanting and loving something means knowing that it does not belong to you and is not your domain. Knowing how to love that beauty, in a way that is strange and foreign to me, is an authentic feeling.

F: What is your biggest dream?

CM: Have a painting exhibition! I have two paraffins that are my favorites, one is called Ostinato, it is a heart painted on white paraffin; On the front you can see very faint lines, and on the obverse you can see the faint shape of the heart. The result is transparency that speaks to us of immateriality, of people who are no longer here.

My other favorite is called To immateriality, it is a small hand painted in paraffin; The death of my cousin and what her death represented to me is my muse, that feeling that lives in me.

F: What is the most difficult work you have performed?

CM: Živković's Marimba Concerto No. 2 was very difficult for me to interpret, so much so that I had to start studying without violin, just rhythm. Imagine squaring up a puzzle in your mind with very small pieces! I performed it in 2013 with the Antioquia Symphony Orchestra.

F: What has been the strangest situation at concert?

CM: I was 16 years old and in a concert at the Pablo Tobón Uribe Theater, at the last minute, I had to play the role of concertmaster, and even more, I had to do a violin solo. It was very overwhelming!

Camilo lives his weeks between rehearsals, concerts and his inevitable afternoon ritual, sleeping. He also loves going downtown, he always makes excuses to visit it; He loves science fiction cinema and declares himself a fan of Dany's show in Plaza Botero, a street artist who, while reorganizing the cabinets, tells stories of tragic and violent loves, of dysfunctional families and thugs, of frustrated dreams of fame. and money, of scars.

Music fulfills dreams

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With different instruments, but united by the same dream, music has touched the lives of Mariana and Miguel Ángel, members of the Urabá Children's and Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. A group that began as a dream and that has come to fruition thanks to the talent of its 62 students. In 2022, the orchestra performed fourteen presentations accompanying events in the region and twenty ensemble meetings.

This mission of bringing music to all the people of the region is what has motivated the Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra to deliver a life full of hope to children and young people in Urabá, Antioquia.

Sow music with love

Mariana Ayala, she is 14 years old, she is the principal second violin of the orchestra. Her voice expresses deep love for the violin more than anything else in life, she even longs in the future to be a professional musician and perhaps play as a soloist in orchestras around the world. But before realizing his dream, he knows that he must finish school and graduate. Mariana says that her favorite subjects are artistic and livestock and agricultural, the latter because she has had the opportunity to plant plantains and bananas, and explore the types of livestock, which are necessary tools for life and work in the countryside.

The student alternates her school classes with music rehearsals, because both are important in her life, she says; He practices his instrument for an hour a day, with the same discipline with which he frequently sings in his neighborhood church. “I like the way the violin sounds, it gives me peace of mind. With it I can express feelings like affection, love, even sadness. When I have had the opportunity to be a soloist I get very nervous, but it makes me happy to know that the public can feel and hear life through my instrument.” Although he likes to look through books, he prefers to read his scores and his love for music came when he was 8 years old, when a teacher visited his school and invited several students to take free music classes. “There I learned recorder, xylophone, metallophone and even staff. I also had the opportunity to practice French horn and trumpet, but all my attention and heart was on the violin.”

Mariana, born in Chigorodó, was embraced by music before she was born because Mercedes, her mother, stimulated her with romantic songs and universal classics.

Chigorodó, located in the Urabá subregion, means “Guaduas River” in the Katía language. It is a hot municipality, but with large cool rivers. Next to it rises the Serranía de Abibe, a large water reserve in the Uraba subregion.

An instrument that shines like the sun

“If you ask me what my favorite toy is, I will say the trumpet, because I always have fun with it, discover, play and rehearse.” Miguel Ángel Rengifo

The first trumpet of the Urabá Symphony Orchestra is led by 14-year-old Miguel Ángel Rengifo; His life in music began in 2019 with percussion because at first there were no brass instruments; And he loves that family of instruments for their strength and sonority and even because within the orchestra it shines like the sun, he says, “if my instrument were a character it would be someone strong, elegant, beautiful, but very boisterous.” He also really likes the instrument's pistons because they fit easily over his fingers.

He considers himself a very disciplined young man and knows that he must practice the various trumpet methods for at least forty-five minutes each day. “Music is a life project. Since I was little I identified with her, I remember that at family parties we all danced to the rhythm of salsa and merengue, and we sang rancheras,” says the trumpeter.

Miguel, who was born in Apartadó, wants to be a professional musician, but also a trumpet teacher because he dreams that many young people will make music a life purpose. She is currently in ninth grade and loves Spanish, especially when she practices spelling and calligraphy. She even recently found another passion: reading. And although he doesn't like numbers, he says that his favorite book is Damned Mathematics by Carlo Frabetti. “…I like it because they explain mathematical concepts to me in an easier way, and, on the other hand, I think it's a fun story in which Alice arrives in a world of wonders that shows her the beauty of numbers.”