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WIU Wind Ensemble at Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro

On the final day of a whirlwind tour through Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the WIU Wind Ensemble added aural beauty to a magnificent natural setting at Jardim Botânico, or the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden.  As the sun took a welcome descent in the four o’clock hour, the heat subsided just enough for a comfortable outdoor performance among flora, fauna, and an appreciative crowd of onlookers.  Following the performance, the WIU percussionists took one final opportunity to share their talent with local children.

Dr. Shawn Vondran directs the WIU Wind Ensemble at Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro

Freshman Chris Haas during Jardim Botânico performance

WIU Wind Ensemble gives final Brazil performance at Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro

Freshman Michael Taylor poses before final Brazil performance

As a 1976 graduate of WIU’s College of Fine Arts and Communication who lives in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, I, along with my wife Nisi Rodrigues who is Brazilian, were delighted to help plan the trip in conjunction with Mike Fansler and Conor O’Sullivan of Tatur Turismo and to assist Mike and Conor in hosting the Wind Ensemble during their time in Brazil. All of us here in Brazil were deeply impressed with both the caliber of musicianship and the caliber of people from WIU who participated in the trip.

Some of my company’s work in Brazil is related to “sustainable tourism” development which is based on the notion that everyone and everything should benefit from tourism and negative impacts should be eliminated.  All too often, discussions and actions related to “sustainable tourism” development focus largely on environmental preservation and pay little attention to the importance of high quality cultural exchanges.

For me, the Wind Ensemble’s visit to Brazil demonstrated that any discussions or actions related to “sustainable tourism” development should always take into account the significance of interactions and exchanges between visitors and local citizens. On this count, the Wind Ensemble’s visit to Brazil was “off the charts”. It didn’t matter that the musicians from WIU and their local counterparts (as well as most of the audience members) couldn’t speak the same language because they “played” in the universal language of music. And, WOW!, from the get-go, it was obvious the Wind Ensemble “came to play” in Brazil. And play they did—almost to the point of exhaustion at times. It was amazing to see how energized they all became when they started playing and local musicians and audiences began responding to their music.

Congratulations to everyone associated with the WIU Wind Ensemble’s 2010 Trip to Brazil. You are all terrific Ambassadors and you have done much to strengthen relations between the US and Brazil and to put “WIU” in the hearts and minds of many people in Brazil. I especially want to thank Mike Fansler, Abby Rhodes, Conor O’Sullivan, Gina Carmo, my wife Nilsi Rodrigues, and all of the WIU faculty members and alums who participated for their efforts to make the trip successful. I also want to thank Dean Paul Kreider and the administration of WIU for their support of the trip during challenging times for WIU.

On a sad note, as many of you know, my Mother, Evelyn Adair, passed away in Morton, Illinois, on Thursday, March 18. I had to leave the group quite suddenly in Rio de Janeiro to return to the US for her funeral. We learned three weeks ago that my Mother was terminally ill with leukemia but we didn’t expect her to pass so quickly. At one point, I had considered returning to the US prior to the Wind Ensemble’s arrival in Brazil. However, my Mother who, along with my Father who died in 1998, was a proud WIU parent and she deeply appreciated all the opportunities that WIU has created for me and continues to create. Having been a WIU parent who worried about her sons (my brother Jim also graduated from WIU in 1979), she was concerned about the safety and well being of the WIU students participating in the trip and wanted to make sure that I was in Brazil to help alleviate the worries of other WIU parents. Her wish was that I stay in Brazil and make sure the WIU Wind Ensemble’s trip was a success.

As many of the trip participants have already written in this blog, the trip was a life changing experience for everyone from WIU as well as for everyone here in Brazil who came in contact with the Wind Ensemble. As they say in Portuguese, “Somos melhores por causa disto” or “We are all better because of this”.

In my heart, I feel that my Mother’s wish was granted and I find great comfort in this. She lived her entire life this way, always being concerned about the welfare of others. Though I and all of my family and the members of her community and church will miss her dearly, we know “we are all better because of her”.

Again, thanks to everyone including my Mother who helped make the WIU Wind Ensemble Trip to Brazil an experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Steve

Alexandra O'Donnell and Tim Holl mimic Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado

Say the word, “Rio,” and a host of iconic images come to mind.  Many people will think first of the Christ the Redeemer statue, which towers atop the 2,400 foot Corcovado peak, its arms outstretched as if embracing the city and its people.  Brazil claims to have the world’s largest Catholic population, though we learned its devoutness is challenged each Sunday by “three Bs”:  ball, beach, and beer.  Despite the contradictory perspectives, the concrete and soapstone behemoth has been one of Rio’s top tourist attractions since 1931.

To access the Christ-of-stone, visitors first take a train through an Atlantic forest, a rare opportunity for city folk to experience flora akin to the varieties found in Brazil’s rain forests.

When the railway ends, the stairs, elevators, and escalators begin, transporting tourists through the final stages of their ascent.  Those who elect to take the stairs get sneak peaks of breathtaking views that will construct an incredible panorama at the top of Corcovado.

View of Rio from Corcovado

In light of some battering by Mother Nature sustained in February, Christ the Redeemer is now undergoing reconstruction, hence the scaffolding surrounding the structure.

Once again thank you.

Michael Hankosky

Music students from Rio's largest favela, Rocinha, perform for the WIU Wind Ensemble

Their backgrounds couldn’t be more different.  WIU Wind Ensemble members are largely middle class Americans from the flat expanses of Midwestern farmland.  They’re completing degrees at a respected university and will soon be earning tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.  Their counterparts come from Latin America’s largest shantytown, Rocinha, where families earn an average of $300 a month and live in homes literally stacked one on top of another, rising high into the mountains on Rio’s coast.   The bands’ members speak different languages and live in opposite hemispheres, but they share one thing in common: a love of music.

Rocinha resident, Jonas, joins the WIU WE percussion section for Sing, Sing, Sing

Last Friday, the bands combined for performances at a Rocinha music school and an adjacent warehouse-type building where local residents spend several months each year preparing for Brazil’s famous Carnival parades.

Dr. Mike Fansler presents Jonas with the Sing, Sing, Sing score

Below, watch a video of WIU percussionists joining the Rocinha band, then the WE playing the Brazilian national anthem.

I need to thank Dr. Fansler, for his idea.  Two summers ago, I was playing in the Macomb Municipal Band, and he told my friend and I that he was looking for a way to take the Wind Ensemble to Brazil. That makes this trip almost two years in the making! Thank you, and GOOD JOB!

 To everyone who was on this trip: thank you for letting me get to know you; and thank you for enhancing the positive atmosphere of this experience.

 To everyone I met in Brazil: thank you for greeting our band with open arms. I hope we meet again. Mantenha contato!

Thank you Mom, for knowing the importance of this experience, and helping me go.

This was my first time out of the country, but I now refuse to make it my last. Thank you for this life altering experience.