Sarah Weiler

Winston Churchill/Finzi Trust Fellow 2013

El Aula Colombiana – The Colombian Classroom

A musical journey through Colombia to find innovative ways to

teach Spanish through culture in UK schools

Itinerary

septiembre: Bogotá, Cali

octubre: Palmira, Pasto, Sibundoy, Cali, San Andrés, Medellín

noviembre: La Barra, Santander de Quilichao, Santa Marta,

Valledupar, Cartagena, La Guajira

diciembre: San Basilio de Palenque, Salento, Cali

enero: Pasto, Bogotá

Herencia de Timbiquí, Cali

Background to my Fellowship

It is so hard to pin this venture down to one sole thought or epiphany. Over a long time I have been convinced that the way we are teaching languages, in my case Spanish, in schools is wrong: it is totally disconnected from the reality of the Spanish-speaking world.

If pupils are lucky enough to get languages in primary school they will learn the numbers and colours; in secondary school this progresses to fourteen year olds making double room hotel bookings, naming the items of their pencil case and listing horse-riding and fishing as their evening leisure activities. Are we surprised at their disengagement?

It is only in A-level that students begin to experience the richness of the culture: the music, the arts, the explosion of colour at one of the many festivals, a García Marquez novel, a controversial Almodóvar film. And this is only enjoyed by the small number of students who have actually persevered through the dry, soulless curriculum: many state schools have only a handful of students studying languages at post 16+. I can probably count on one hand anyone I studied MML with at Cambridge who was from a non-selective state school and who didn't have a family member who spoke the language. Forgive me if I've missed anyone out.

But most students won't get that far. For the rest of their lives they will have negative connotations with learning languages, roll their eyes at the thought of their year 9 French classes. And I don't blame them. But yet how many young people in their twenties happily jump on a plane to Buenos Aires to explore the city and learn Tango, are fascinated with Gaudi after a trip to Barcelona, and how many people do you know that have enrolled in Spanish evening classes when suddenly this language is put into context by a trip, or a book, or a film. Pupils from our schools need to be provided with opportunities to engage with the language much earlier by finding their own personal link to the language; a way in.

I tried to include of this as I could in my three years teaching at a low-income state school in West London: year 7 studying Miró, GCSE students visiting the Sadlers Wells Flamenco Festival, and pumping as much Orishas and Cuban hiphop around the year 9 classroom as they could stomach. It is these encounters with real Hispanic experiences that make languages worth learning, that bring the culture alive and that contextualise it all – it is suddenly all so much more accessible.

But it is not enough.

My Research Proposal

I started thinking that we needed much more of these experiences in schools, and not just a one off flamenco class once a year or a token cross-curricular art lesson on Picasso: we need to completely revolutionise the way that languages and performing arts departments work with each other in the school, starting with music.

Carnaval de Blancos y Negros, Pasto

I fundamentally believe that music has a two pronged impact: in using music we are not only approaching language learning from a completely new angle, but we are using an art form that will change the way students interact with one another: improve teamwork, creativity and self-confidence – and all in a foreign language. My research proposal was to explore innovative ways in which Spanish could be taught to young people, by researching and gathering authentic Hispanic experiences that could be transferable to the UK classroom. Music as a stimulus would engage students in the subject, it would help students to grow in confidence and provide a platform to explore wider issues surrounding the Spanish-speaking world. I called my project ‘El Aula Colombiana’ (The Colombian Classroom) because that is what I wanted to eventually create – a model of complete immersion into a Spanish-speaking world through the music of that country.

Research methods Through all of my research I had one question: What can regional music teach students of Spanish about Colombian culture? I took this question from region to region and used a variety of methods to find out my answers:

Attending regional musical festivals and accompanying talks Interviewing musicians and djs of traditional music Watching groups in rehearsal and in concert

Working with a musician on a cross-cultural project Making links with local and global arts and education organisations in Colombia

Police force turned Andean folk stars in Pasto

My Fellowship

Itinerary

Month Who/What City Genre of music/type of project

September

Petronio Álvarez Music Festival/Talks

at Universidad Javeriana Cali Pacific Music

Jamie Henao – El Colectivo Cali Music school for young people

British Council Arts and Education department

Bogotá Raise money for arts projects that promote British/Colombian culture

Mixticius Bogotá Radio station promoting local music

from around Colombia

Grupo Putumayo – rehearsal and concert

Bogotá Andean

Mario Galeano – Ondatrópica Bogotá Pacific and Atlantic music – British Council project with Quantic (Will

Holland)

October

Concert with Ruben Darío Lopez –

guitarist Palmira

Colombian traditional music from all

over country and British folk music

Dance and music classes at Casa de

la Cultura Palmira Pacific

Grupo Bahía – rehearsal and

interview Cali Pacific – Valle de Cauca

Herencia de Timbiquí – rehearsal

and interview Cali Pacific - Cauca

Fiestas de San Pacho Cali Pacific - Chocó

Universidad de Narino – talk to staff and concert

Pasto Andean folk music

Yagé ceremony Sibundoy Ceremonial chants from Putumayo

Green Moon Festival Isla de San

Andrés Carribean – mentó, soka, reggae

November

Festival de Afro-Colombianos Medellín Pacific

Local musicians La Barra,

Buenaventrua Pacific

Renovación – Youth Group Santander de

Quilichao Pacific

Turco Gil Vallenato School and

interviews with various Vallenato

stars

Valledupar Vallenato

Mercado Cultural del Caribe Cartagena Atlantic

December Batata Music and Dance School

San Basilio de

Palenque Palenquero

Feria de Salsa Cali Salsa

January Carneval de Blancos y Negros Pasto Andean

As you can see from my itinerary I visited a large number of places but I wanted to focus on five visits that I feel made the biggest impact on me in terms of learning about Colombian culture and in turn, that could have the biggest potential to be used in the classroom. These case studies are by no means exhaustive – all my visits were enriching in different ways and have added to my next steps, which I will explain later in my report. In the next section I have selected 5 case studies to illustrate 5 different ways that music is linked to aspects of the culture. I will then make suggestions of how this could be used in the classroom to improve learning. Case Study 1 – Music and African Heritage Grupo Bahía, Pacific Coast I chose to go to Colombia because of the vast range of musical styles, but a bigger reason was how little I actually knew about them. Like my students whose horizons I wanted to broaden, my awareness of styles beyond Salsa and Cumbia was limited. But I had certainly not anticipated the African influence in Colombian music which characterises and dominates the music industry. There is a strong sense of legacy and

desire to preserve their African heritage. The rhythms, the instruments and the lyrics all link back to the time of the slave trade and the sense of liberation experienced through music is still palpable centuries later. One music director I met wisely pointed out that it was difficult to find a Colombian who did not have some African heritage, but the main black demographic is through the coastal regions of the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. My first stop of my trip was the Pacific region of Colombia, with Cali as its epicentre. My research was kick-started by the Petronio Álvarez Festival in September which brought together artists and styles from the whole region (four departments) over a week.

The main stage at the Petronio Alvarez Festival - Cali

The festival was dedicated to Hugo Candelario Gonzalez who is a world-famous marimba player and who headed up this year's festival headliners, Grupo Bahía. In October, I got the chance to visit Grupo Bahía in rehearsal. Hugo is one of the pioneers in bringing Pacific music out of the village and making it heard across the rest of the country, and across the world. Their songs are all his own compositions but firmly based in the traditional music. Hugo was born in Guapi on the coast of the Cauca region which was a town rich in folklore so he grew up playing music. This is something that has struck me about this music; it is very accessible. Children are exposed to the melodies and rhythms and have no choice but to have music in their veins.

Linda Caldas and Hugo Candelario – Grupo Bahía

I asked Hugo what we can learn about the people of the Pacific region from their music:

'There is an implicit sorrow for the history of slavery. There is a really strong sense of sadness, increasingly less, but it´s there. The music is a longing and desire for freedom.'

One of the main styles of music is called Currulao and one of its distinguishing features is the two time against three time (a hemiola). The music is in 6/8 but it means that sometimes you seem to be counting in 2, and then suddenly in 3, and then both at the same time. The 2 against 3 is an African influence. According to Hugo you see a real fusion of culture in Pacific music: the rhythms are African, the melodies are indigenous and the text is usually European. So the music is a synthesis of the cultural mixing because of the slave trade. The instruments are also a mix of traditional African such as the marimba, guasá and bombo (drum) and then more modern instruments -piano, brass and guitar. Music from the Pacific Coast has a strong African influence but also really varies throughout the whole region. In the north region, Chocó, the music is much more upbeat and ´bailable´ (easy to dance to). The main genre there is the Chirimía which uses a clarinet, a tambora and platillas – like a jazz band but with a much simpler musical format. The influences up here are still quite European and lots of rhythms such as polkas, mazurkas brought over by the priests still exist in the music.

In the south the music tends to be much more slow and spiritual. One of the styles here is calle Aguabajo (downstream) which are songs that the fishermen sing as they row home down the river. The Pacific coastline has no roads so you can only travel by boat. There is so much scope with Pacific music to teach students about other parts of Colombian culture and how the instrumentation, lyrics and rhythm reflect its history. I can see this being used as teachers in conjunction with a history curriculum, DT – looking at materials used to make instruments, Geography – looking at ways of living on the coast in South America, and of course in what I am proposing – by fusing music and Spanish to create a rhythmically rich programme of Pacific beats and melodies, whose lyrics teach us about the region. Case Study 2 - Music and Local Traditions Batata Music and Dance School - San Basilio de Palenque San Basilio de Palenque is a community of about 3000 people hidden away in the north of Colombia which is said to be the first and only remaining African civilisation formed by escaped slaves during the 17th century. Despite the passing of time, its inhabitants live exactly as they did many years ago, and have firmly kept their traditions and African rituals. Palenque has come to symbolise freedom, as everyone who came to live there was automatically free. They even have their own language 'Palenquero', a Spanish and Portuguese based creole with traces of English and African tribal languages. I visited 'Batata Music and Dance School', a centre that draws in all the young people of Palenque on a daily basis for rehearsals.

Batata Music and Dance School

I asked one of the students about what the music and dance can tell us about the culture and this is what he told me:

The dance comes from when the slaves used to dance for their masters and was a chance for them to express emotions that they had to suppress: love and desire, pain, non-conforming, and sometimes just making fun of the Spanish!

The ‘lumbalum’ is a religious dance where people dance around a dead body. The women rub their stomachs to show the pain they are feeling is similar to labour.

The Palenqueros believe in three worlds: 1.The world we live in 2.The ´más allá´ (the beyond) – when people are ill they believe that their deceased relatives visit them and tell them how to get better. People often wake up from dreams saying that a mother or an aunt has told them to eat a certain thing, or to be in a certain place. 3.The world of the ´mujana´ or the ´chimbunde´ – an imaginary creature who has become a reality. He lives under the water and if children are naughty he takes them into the water…

´Leko´ is the Palenquero way of crying. He explained to me that they don´t try to cover up their pain, they really let it out and vocalise it.

´Mapalé´ is the dance which shows the male and female slaves in their moment of freedom where they had fun – these dance moves are quite sexual and explicit – slightly weird when it´s 11 year olds performing it! Because all of the above are represented within the dance moves, it could give opportunities for teachers to explore myths and legends; how movement can reflect historical reality. With the music as a mere stimulus teachers could explore the creation of creoles; how cultures can be preserved over time; how young people live and spend their free time in other parts of the world. On a more basic level, the fast-paced rhythms and

dances lend themselves perfectly to Physical Education, Dance and Performing Arts. Case Study 3 - Music and Nature Grupo Putumayo, Bogotá One aspect of music I was fascinated with was the ability for a style of music to evoke the sounds and atmosphere of a particular region. We saw that so much of the Pacific music was about representing the feelings of the people, but what about sounds that would actually make you feel like you were there? This was especially important in considering my desire to 'transport' students to Colombia and create as authentic an environment in the classroom as possible.

Grupo Putumayo in rehearsal In Bogota I was fortunate enough to watch some rehearsals of Putumayo (http://www.grupoputumayo.com/) an Andean fusion band made up of two brothers from the

Amazon rainforest and some local Bogotanos who accompany the panpipes and drums with charango, guitar and bass.

William, the band lead, grew up in Sibundoy, Putumayo in the south of Colombia. His parents are indigenous and artesanos and his father in particular was a musician so he has inherited this from a young age. He is now a real master of all ‘flautas’ (panpipes, flutes, recorders – all wooden), and makes them as well. He said: ‘It’s really lovely to make them – it brings back memories of my childhood… it brings back memories of the rainforest… of the rivers of the little birds. All the flutes that I make try to imitate all these sounds of the rainforest.' I asked him what the experience is like for an audience. Do they get to appreciate the references, or is it too removed from the original context? He said about the music: ‘It transports them to the rainforest; it transports them to an indigenous community; it transports them to all of the magic that surrounds these communities: a ‘pueblo’ with its traditions, its dances, its legends. It’s very beautiful.’ The following Saturday I went to watch their performance and it was absolutely magical – you get totally transported to the rainforest.

Case Study 4- Music and quotidian life– Vallenato

As a complete contrast to the Pacific, Palenque and Putumayo, I went to Valledupar in North-East Colombia. I went knowing very little about vallenato music, apart from what I was hearing on the radio, but soon learned there was a lot more too it than commercial nueva ola. Beginner’s guide to Vallenato 1. The origins are from the time of the conquista when the accordion was introduced. The Spanish moved along the Río Magdalena stopping at each town and mixed songs, stories and traditions with the locals. The Spanish also introduced the concept of rhyme which is a key element in vallenato.

2. Traditional vallenato consists of four instuments: accordion, guajaracha, drum and voice. Modern vallenato has many more instruments, sometimes whole orchestras.

3. It was a completely male dominated music – groups of men would gather together for a ‘paranda’ and sing songs, share new compositions, drink trago and eat good food.

4. Women were to attend to them, but were not involved musically. In fact women are still extremely unrepresented in vallenato music.

4. The lyrics were typically ‘costumbrista’: about the daily life and customs of the people. Now they are much more about unrequited love and can have quite crude content.

5. Vallenato was empirical: songs were handed down from generation to generation and no-one really studied it. Now there are vallenato schools all over the region. Vallento music is used as a vehicle to discuss a range of topics from social to political to satirical. Here is one that alludes to the forgotten race of the indigenous tribes of Colombia. Lamento Arhuaco Author: Sebastian Durán Escalona

Allá en los picos de la Nevada In the Nevada mountains

en donde queda San Sebastián where you find San Sebastian

viven los indios de piel tostada live the Indians – toasted skin,

de canto triste, sin sol ni pan. sad songs and neither sun nor bread.

Fueron guerreros de raza valiente They were warriors of a strong race

que derrotada ante el invasor who, worn down by the invader,

huyó del valle donde la muerte escaped the valley where death

iba a caballo conquistador. rode on a conquista's horseback.

Hoy solo quedan de aquellas glorias Today all that remains are those

leyendas, ritos, resignación, legends, rites and resignations

muchas tristezas, bellas historias a lot of sadness, beautiful tales and

y el gran olvido de la nación. and a great thing forgotten by the nation.

A big theme that came out of my visit was how much vallenato music reflects the social set-up of a very male-dominated society and I was lucky enough to meet one of the few female vallenato superstars to discuss this

Estela holding a photo of herself and her uncle

My intrigue in the role of women was sparked by a throw away comment from one of the 'reyes del vallenato' (Kings of Vallenato – annual competition winner) who told me that there were not many women in vallenato because it is a very demanding music and they do not have the physical strength to play the accordion. I asked if there were any women in Valledupar who were musicians and the lady said to go two blocks away to an office and ask for ‘Estela’. It was so refreshing to meet Estela Duran Escalona, niece of the late Rafael Escalona, a very famous vallenato composer. We met for coffee in her office and had a good chat about women in the vallenato music industry. She explained that it was a very male dominated realm and solely through family connections she was invited into the circle to sing with her brother. Until then having a female singer in vallenato was unheard of but she was surprised at how welcoming the scene had been to her as a woman: The problem is not that women are not welcome in the industry, it’s just that they don’t think to participate. She told me that they are now having a separate vallenato competition just for women, and for young girls as well. Times are changing slowly I can see vallenato lyrics being used in classrooms to unpick themes of Colombian society that the songs discuss. It would also be an opportunity for students to make up their own songs about their UK society in Spanish, in the style of vallenato. Case Study 5 – Music and Colombia's image in the UK – Renovación - Cauca Most of the time during my fellowship, the music was introspective: it was about generating a stronger sense of their own identity. But a strong theme that appeared time and again was what we in the UK felt about Colombia and a desperate desire to show us what the country is really like. One such group was 'Renovación'. I was blown away by the passion felt by each and every member for the music and their responsibility for its

longevity. It was also by far the warmest reception I had had. Santander is not the safest of areas; there is still a strong guerrilla presence in some of the surrounding towns, but Álvaro, the leader of the group, made sure I was escorted everywhere.

Renovación in rehearsal

Of course, Renovación reinforced themes I had seen throughout my trip about traditions, rituals and history:

Many of these upbeat songs are sung at childrens’ funerals. They believe that when children die, it should be celebrated with joy, as a child has not yet had a chance to sin. Wakes often go on for many days with constant singing and ‘alegría’.

The dancers are sometimes pivoting on one foot. This goes back to the time of slavery, when one shackle was released for them to dance.

After a near-polished rehearsal, we had time to have a chat and for us all to ask any questions we wanted. They all asked me what people thought of Colombia in the UK, and I was pretty honest but said that slowly things were changing. Then one girl, 19, called Diana said, ‘I have a message for the people in England’ and this is her message:

We are all young adults with a heritage, a legacy from our African and Spanish ancestors and with every song, every lyric, every instrument, every dance, every smile we express a feeling that comes from deep within us. We do this in order to preserve our history, so that all we’ve been left is not lost, and so that people who don’t know the good side of Colombia can get to know it and can fall in love with it a little more…

Our region Cauca has been one of the regions most affected by the Guerrilla and by drug trafficking, but it’s also one of the places with the largest cultural diversity: We have indigenous people, afro-descendants, ‘mestizos’: we have a really beautiful mix and this has generated so many rhythms, such a variety of music and culture – so you can see that despite the bad things there are, or were, because now things are improving, there are also things that need rescuing and we need help both from people in our country as abroad so that we can continue to develop, so that we don’t stay stagnated.

The message I have for everyone in England is that Colombia is not just a country of violence – the violence has diminished a lot – it’s a country with a lot of culture, with a real cultural and natural diversity, with a lot of fauna and flora, and the food… aaah!! (she laughs). It’s a really beautiful country and whoever visits it wants to come back. We hope to have a lot of English people here and we hope to be in England very soon showing you a small slice of what we have, and leaving a part of us there too..

This final visit is about more than transferring Colombian music to the classroom: it's about using this music as a vehicle to change perceptions in the UK about a country which is so undeserving of its reputation. It's about using music to build international links between young musicians in the UK and Colombia. I really think this could be the start of a new generation of international musicians, where language is no longer a barrier: in fact, it's an incentive.

My Four Main Takeaways

1. Music as a stimulus to explore other topics

In Colombia there is an inextricable link between music and identity - by exposing young people in the UK to the music of Colombia we are opening up a huge catalogue of other topics to do with Colombian culture: history, geography, food, people, racial diversity, language. Music is the starting point, but the learning opportunities from it are endless.

Musicians in San Basilio de Palenque

2. Diversity in music means diversity in curriculum

I visited about seven different regions of Colombia during my trip: each region offered a refreshingly different musical style and with that a different insight into Colombian culture. By looking at music from the Spanish-speaking world by region, we can enrich the cultural capital of our students, rather than tackling 'Spanish culture' as a generic topic. There is potential to teach everything on the Spanish curriculum by touring through different regions, and exploring the idiosyncrasies that each area brings.

3. Music as an accessible teaching tool

The music from Colombia is infectious: it's social, it's rhythmical, it's bound up in years of struggle and conflict - it's an exciting and accessible way in to the language. Because

everyone can take part, it's the perfect way to get young people to build positive connections to the culture of the language they are learning, rather than constantly feel that 'languages are not for them'.

Mercado Cultural, Cartagena

4. Colombia does not deserve its bad reputation in the UK.

I was blown away by the hospitality I felt in Colombia. Everyone I met went out of their way to link me to people they knew to help forward my research. They were constantly humbled by the fact that I had flown half way around the world to not only find out about their culture, but to bring it to UK classrooms. In the UK we have a biased view of Colombia, and in past years it has perhaps not been an unfounded one – but it has changed. The Colombian people are eager to show the UK the other side of their country, and what better place to start than in schools?

Me with some dancers at the Fiestas de San Pacho, Cali

My post-fellowship vision and mission

All students in the UK will have equal access to and success in foreign languages at GCSE, A-level and University, regardless of background and schooling. All students will choose to study a foreign language not because of league tables or timetabling but because they genuinely see the value in them, feel they are good at them and enjoy them. All students in the UK will have access to rigorous, engaging and culturally-rooted foreign language provision led by inspiring musicians from the Spanish-speaking world. This provision will allow students to access the language in new ways; widen their horizons and challenge their perceptions; and most importantly -build self-confidence.

What am I doing to address this?

Short term

Pasaporte Cultural

I am building a network of Latin Americans artists in London to run a pilot in schools this June and July 2014.

We are creating authentic cultural workshops where students are immersed in the culture of that region both linguistically and musically. We will take the Pacific region of Colombia and through a music workshop, delivered in Spanish, students will learn about the culture of that region.

Pasaporte Cultural Team

Workshops will:

Be academically rigorous - sessions will be delivered in 100% target language and push students to think about new topics such as immigration, racism, women in society, poverty, identity etc.

Be linked to the curriculum – the language element will draw on grammar/vocabulary that students will be learning any way eg. Food and drink, free time, clothes, describing where someone lives, describing what someone looks like, opinions, imperatives.

Boost confidence - as the language level is accessible students will go away feeling more confident about their ability to speak and understand Spanish

Raise awareness – students will go away having learned more about the places where Spanish is spoken

Inspire further study – this is NOT a one-off. I will develop resources for teachers to follow up on the workshop with their classes in a way that works for their students.

Improve engagement in language learning – I want students to come away saying 'Spanish is actually really interesting!'

Provide opportunities for Latin American artists in UK to engage in education, promote their culture and gain work experience in a different area

Visit our website www.pasaport-cultural.com – going live from Autumn 2014

Long term

My long term vision is to set up and run a Latin American Arts and Education Centre 'hub' in London which would bring together local Hispanic enthusiasts and Latin Americans living in London to promote Latin American culture through the following things:

Workshops for schools (in-house or visiting schools)

Classes: Spanish, dance, music

Talks about Latin American culture, identity, politics, history, literature

Concerts and music nights of Latin American music

A cafe/bar run by Latin Americans serving Latin American delicacies

The cafe would be a space for people to meet, read the newspaper, find out about events in London

A series of regular events such as:

A Latin American Choir and language exchange

Film nights My next steps

A summer term pilot of workshops in schools

Setting up a Spanish-speaking choir in Elephant and Castle (a big Hispanic area) Running a series of pop-up events all over London to get the brand established Continue links with the British Council for a big Colombia event in the UK in 2015 Build a brand and a network of people in London who want to be involved. Look at ways to get all my resources published from my fellowship (photos,

interviews, videos, blogs, songs) so that they are available for teachers.

Get involved! If you are a teacher

Let us run a workshop at your school If you are a Latin American living in London

Offer to run a workshop for schools in Spanish about an aspect of your country Offer to run a pop-up event – a talk about your culture, a film night, a music night,

a dance class – whatever you can offer – get in touch! If you are a Latin American enthusiast

Sign up to the mailing list and find out about events we are doing

Join the choir Other people who would be useful to link up with:

If you work in fundraising for the arts If you run a venue in London which could host a pop up night

If you are involved in any inter-cultural activities in London and would like to share best practice

If you run workshops for schools and could give me some tips on how run effective workshops

If you just are excited by what I'm doing and want to be involved somehow!

www.saritaconsuguitarrita.wordpress.com