03/16/11

Story by Peggy Graham

Andes Manta

Mountains breathe music into Andes Manta

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Andes Manta invites audiences to take a musical journey to the Andean mountains of South America as they perform vibrant music on more than 35 traditional instruments at 9:45 a.m. Friday, April 8, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College. This is a community and school show sponsored by the Performing Arts Series arts education program.

From the lyrical sounds of the quena, or Andean flute, to the haunting tone of the 6-foot panpipe, Andean music is one of few authentic prehistoric culture forms to survive the 500 years of European occupation of South America. Many indigenous South Americans believe that it is the music that preserves the heart and soul of the ancient ones.

Andes Manta performs time-honored music rooted in the cultural heritage of the Incas and their ancestors. The dynamic and mystical songs that they play are filled with the exquisite sounds of an ancient, yet still vital civilization. This music continues to be widely performed in the modern Andean nations of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina.

The four musicians who comprise Andes Manta today are brothers from Quito, Ecuador: Fernando Lopez, Luis Lopez, Bolivar Lopez and Jorge Lopez. Andes Manta has emerged as a musical force under the direction of founders Fernando (Wilson) Lopez and Luis Lopez. The members of this group began playing at an early age using their distinct musical form to express the richness of their culture and traditions.

They have performed at Carnegie Hall, Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of the Art, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Yale University, Vassar College and hundreds of other schools and universities. Andes Manta has written and performed part of the score for the Discovery Channel Special Rediscovering America as well as performing Latin American music for the World of Music series by Silver Burdett-Ginn.

The Lopez brothers as a group had no formal education in learning to play the instruments they themselves make by hand. Much of their music recreates the vitality of nature, the sound of wind, rain and birds.

"Our music is the music of the people," says Wilson Lopez. "With it we celebrate harvest, carnival, solstice, village life and religion."

"Our parents took us to village festivals, carnivals and ceremonial gatherings," he explains. "We listened and observed the musicians and singers. This is the way children in our country learn to play melodies and fashion musical instruments."

Tickets are $5, available by calling the PAS box office, 913-469-4445.

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