A Venezuelan cultural model for Mexico? The proposal of the Secretary of the Interior

A few days ago, and taking advantage of the presence in Mexico of the Venezuelan orchestra director Gustavo Dudamel, Adán Augusto López, Secretary of the Interior, said:

“Gustavo Dudamel is one of the most famous directors in the world, he is a Venezuelan boy, of humble origin, but who is the fruit of a school –they are going to accuse me there of being a Chavista– [una escuela] designed by an old music teacher, José Abreu, who was the music teacher of the then young student Hugo Chávez. Chávez went to see Abreu and designed a scheme to take all the towns [de Venezuela] music and create children’s and youth orchestras, which is the most successful cultural experiment in the last forty years throughout the world. You can’t imagine: not just Dudamel, but all the young Venezuelans who are now dedicated to music. And I think that in Mexico we have to experience all of that, because there is talent in our young people.”

In short, it seems that Adán Augusto López thinks that Gustavo Dudamel and the Venezuelan System are the work of President Hugo Chávez, and he recommends that in Mexico we adopt said system, since, judging by his words, nothing has been done in our country, or not much has been done in terms of music education. The Secretary of the Interior is very wrong. Neither Dudamel nor the System are the work of President Hugo Chávez; and in Mexico we have spent decades of a continuous effort of musical education.

The National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela (the famous “System”) was founded in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu (not an “old professor”, but a young and restless 35-year-old teacher) during the government of President Carlos Andres Perez. The idea was that music was an instrument of social organization and human development. In 1979 the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra was founded, which to date is one of the best youth orchestras in the world. Without a doubt, Abreu’s program has been very successful.

Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, in January 1981, and joined the System as a child, long before Chávez became president. He studied directing with artists of the stature of Abreu himself, Charles Dutoit and Simon Rattle. He rose to international fame after winning the Gustav Mahler Competition for Orchestral Conducting in 2004. And so, some Chavistas in Latin America foolishly believe that El Sistema and Dudamel are the work of Hugo Chavez!

In Mexico there is a “System”. It has been successful, even though it has always suffered from a lack of budget. President Salinas created the National Council for Culture and the Arts in 1988, and one of his first projects was to implement a musical system in Mexico like the one in Venezuela. The task was entrusted to Fernando Lozano, who in 1989 created the Program of Youth Orchestras and Choirs of Mexico and founded the Carlos Chávez Youth Orchestra, which would be the Mexican equivalent of El Sistema and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela. Dozens of youth orchestras were created throughout the country and excellent musicians were trained: more than 100 orchestras in 28 states that served almost 10,000 children and young people. This program was transformed in 1998 into the National System for Musical Promotion, which to date has 29 orchestras, 34 choirs, 20 symphonic bands, 4 traditional bands and 17 ensembles. It has a presence in 69 municipalities in 27 states and serves some 6,000 children and young people.

However, the Secretary of the Interior thinks that almost nothing has been done in Mexico in terms of music education. Perhaps neither he nor his sympathizers realize it, but his statements disqualify the federal government, the Ministry of Culture and the National System for Musical Development. He is ignoring work that has been done in Mexico for decades and has paid off. Maestro Roberto Rentería does a great job at the head of the National System for Musical Development, but for the Secretary of the Interior it is as if none of this existed.

Adán Augusto López said that a friend recommended him not to say about implementing the Venezuelan musical model in Mexico, because they were going to accuse him of being a Chavista. I don’t accuse him of being a Chavista, that really doesn’t matter. If you want to be a Leninist, a Chavista, a Madurista, a Stalinist, a Polpotista, a Lopezorista or join the Wet Buffalo Club, I don’t care. What saddens me is that he disqualifies, from his lack of knowledge, the very government for which he works, and dismisses the innumerable pedagogues and the thousands of children and young people who have been trained and continue to be trained, first in the Orchestra Program and Youth Choirs of Mexico, and later in the National System for Musical Development.