Elizabeth Bradley, guest double bass player, joined Florilegium on their Bolivian trip in April 2006. Here, she writes about her experience travelling to, and playing at, the VIth Festival Misiones de Chiquitos

I was fortunate to be asked to join Florilegium as double bassist on their Bolivian visit in April 2006 and to take part in the sixth Festival “Misiones de Chiquitos”. Of course I agreed immediately as the festival continues a very special historical project of bringing to life 17th-18th century music from the establishment of Jesuit missions in the Eastern corner of Bolivia.

This year Florilegium would be performing and recording 'Missa Encarnacion' with a newly formed Bolivian choir - "Arakaendar Bolivia". Alongside the mass we would also record two instrumental sonatas and all of this music had been composed for the mission in Concepcion where we would be staying. Recently the priest and musicologist Dr Piotr Nawrot and Ashley Solomon selected the music from the archive of original manuscripts and Piotr transcribed it from the amazingly preserved parts.

The changing political environment

Since the last festival two years ago Evo Morales has become the first indigenous President of Bolivia, which is a meaningful change for the country as relationships are being redefined, both internally and internationally. The week before we flew to Santa Cruz there had been a rare and extended BBC News report on Bolivia. It brought us up to date with the new President's intentions particularly regarding their own natural resources. And the report showed clips of demonstrators forming road blockades as part of the latest political friction between the Altiplano and Santa Cruz. It would be all the more interesting for Florilegium to be working with a specially formed Bolivian choir auditioned by Ashley from choirs throughout the country. We heard our choir for the first time on the 6 hour bus journey between Santa Cruz and Concepcion and I enjoyed the distinctive ringing quality to their voices in the singing and laughing.

Getting down to work

Next day we went straight into 'work', no time to laze on the hammocks swinging in the garden of our hotel.... As a double bass player used to driving in London I relished the short walk across the red earth streets which surround Concepcion's main square, arriving at the dark pillared church moments later.



First we rehearsed with the soloists, this year the wonderful Katia, Alejandra and Henry were joined by a young alto, Angélica Monje. Rehearsing in the church surrounded by carved wooden angels and seeing them for sale in handcraft shops around the square I couldn't help thinking she resembled one of them with her warm and disarming smile!

From historical accounts it is known that the mission music was composed by both Jesuit priests and Chiquitano Indians, who wrote anonymously or occasionally took the name of a well-known European composer. A central feature of the establishment of the missions was Jesuit and Indian working together through their craft and artisan skills. Musicians were encouraged to set their music to words in the native languages. As an interesting example of this Katia translated one ensemble piece '¡Atencion!¡Silencio!' from Chiquitana “The baby lord is descending on wings, pulls a bow, His voice comes out with the arrow, the arrow is now a song' .

Our rehearsals were punctuated with guitar playing and unrestrained singing from the versatile male singers in the choir, playing the guitars which are used for church services nowadays. It struck me that of course guitars are so much more portable and easily maintained than large keyboard instruments! Florilegium's keyboard player James was full of respect for the Jesuit who built the first ever organ in Concepcion, now on display in the museum, without any prior training.

'Missa Encarnacion' was the choir's debut and also Ashley's conducting debut having rehearsed previously with them on several week long trips to Bolivia. Judging by the response from one Santa Cruz choir director the choir had achieved great results. The concerts were upbeat occasions partly due to the bright and vibrant music which even in the mass doesn't linger on the tragic for long. We all also appreciated the special occasion of performing together. This was captured by a film crew from CBS who have made a '60 minutes' documentary about the missions. The crew travelled round many of the missions or 'reductions' and came back to us with stories of hearing other wonderful young voices singing. An alto from our choir, Adelina, sang a moving introduction to Florilegium's popular encore, a piece that came from a meeting between Kati Debretzeni and an elderly violinist Don Juanario. He was trained through the mission tradition, and appeared in Concepcion with his self- built violin to be recorded for the CD.

Coping with the unexpected

Unexpected hitches meant that the recording was up against time as producer Jared was rushed to hospital severely dehydrated, so Ashley moved into the recording box out of sight of increasing hilarity below. During one very late night session of a slow, ethereal vocal motet full of long 'blancas' or 'minims' in the continuo part Eligio broke into a lively tap dance from behind the theorbo. We hadn't seen a thick-skinned cockroach which was creeping across the church floor straight towards his open-toed sandals! Even if we could escape insects and stomach problems, it was impossible to avoid the heat and the concert in Santa Cruz was certainly the hottest concert any of us had ever given. A kind gentleman sitting in the front row of the audience leant forward after the opening piece and passed a whole packet of tissues to us.

The uniqueness of the Festival

The Biennial Festival of music from 'Misiones de Chiquitos' is a unique festival which contains Piotr's vision to bring together many diverse levels of community with its performances from local, South American and International groups. Just before we were to record in the church late one night we met young performers from Concepcion who had played the 'Missa Encarnacion' within the church mass. In San Javier we heard a large string orchestra put together from poorer parts of Santa Cruz, Orquesta de Cuerdas de Hombres Nuevos, playing with huge enthusiasm one of the sonatas which we had just performed and recorded. Its opening sounds are a welcome call to come and investigate the music.

I continue to treasure my time in Bolivia particularly the connection to a natural world and incredible night skies which revealed millions of stars. All in all it was a rich experience indeed and a rare opportunity for us as musicians not only to spend a week working in one place but also to meet and work with a different community of artists.