Andes Manta Concert 2/5/03

There could be little more delightful than the expressions on the faces of the small children in the very front row of seats at the Seldovia Arts Council sponsored, student concert at Susan B. English School which featured the exciting group of young musicians called Andes Manta this Wednesday afternoon. Absolute joy could be seen and felt as 35, mostly hand made instruments were demonstrated, and then rattled, strummed, fluted and drummed to the rhythms and festival dance music born of the ancient Andean people.


Home Andes Manta WOWS , Enriches, and Enchants! narrative by Susan Mumma, pictures by Mary Glover more information	Seldovia Arts Council presents the Andes Manta Concert February 5, 2003 (click on all images for larger view)
The Childrens' concert	There could be little more delightful than the expressions on the faces of the small children in the very front row of seats at the Seldovia Arts Council sponsored, student concert at Susan B. English School which featured the exciting group of young musicians called Andes Manta this Wednesday afternoon. Absolute joy could be seen and felt as 35, mostly hand made instruments were demonstrated, and then rattled, strummed, fluted and drummed to the rhythms and festival dance music born of the ancient Andean people.
How do you tell if it's a great concert? When nobody wants to leave the building, when they are still engaging in lively conversation with the musicians, and when they leave humming or whistling the tunes…This was such a time.	In forty five short minutes the four Ecuadorian brothers and a friend, Jorge, Bolivar, Fernando, and Luis Lopez and Nazim Flores, fascinated everyone in the room with their musical skill, their wonderful sense of humor, grace and such love of music. When the group asked some of the children to play with them, inviting them to try out the instruments themselves, the enchantment was complete. Later, Andes Manta, sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club, taught a workshop in pan flute building to the children in which each participant went home with their very own instrument and playing a simple tune.
And that was just the afternoon!!!!!The Seldovia Arts Council sponsored evening concert was just as vibrant, beautiful and inspiring. Again the audience was enraptured by the rhythms , and the variety of interesting instruments, but when the group performed, Causai Pacha, from their new CD Causia Pacha, the audience could not believe their ears! If they closed their eyes they could have sworn that they were in the midst of the an Amazon rainforest listening to birds of various species, frogs, the wind and water slowing moving down to the sea. It was phenonmenal !!!
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Thanks so much to the Seldovia Arts Council, the Westaf Touring Fund, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Harper Touring Fund, and the Seldovia Boys and Girl's Club for financial sponsorship of the concerts and the workshop.. Thanks also to the Bay View Suites for housing the artists, Lynn Corwin for great food, Janet and Clint Sheppard for translating( where needed) and once again to all those who helped to make these three events so satisfying to all who attended.