Two Flutes, One Melody

Two Flutes, One Melody

Los Mapaches brings songs of the Andes to the East Bay.

For a select group of East Bay families, zampoña has become a household word. The small pan flute is the first instrument that kids learn to play when they join Los Mapaches (The Raccoons), a thriving Latin American music ensemble that brings the songs of the Andes to places like Berkeley’s La Peña Cultural Center and Carnaval in San Francisco.

On a spring afternoon in south Berkeley, members of Los Mapaches gather at La Peña to rehearse for an upcoming concert. Kids ranging from kindergartners to high school seniors stream into a large rectangular room that has a small stage in front and colorful fabric art along the walls. Moms and caregivers aren’t far behind, some hoisting large hand drums, others with babies in tow. The action is nonstop, as kids meet and greet and collect their bamboo instruments, known in English as pan flutes or panpipes. In the midst of the hubbub, a middle-schooler walks in circles, practicing a tune on his flute.

Lydia Mills, the force behind Los Mapaches, enters the room pushing a baby stroller. Mills not only gave birth to this ensemble, but is also mom to three young children and three stepchildren. She appears to be a musical mother to many of the Mapaches as well, bending down to patiently answer questions each time a small hand taps her arm, and conversing intently with several of the older kids. In her mid-30s, light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, Mills exudes high energy and intense focus. “Who needs a chuspa?” she calls out, and several young Mapaches come over to claim a small red shoulder bag used to carry the flutes. Two of the moms organize the 5- and 6-year-olds into lines, and the rehearsal is under way.

Tag team: It takes two zampoñas to play one scale, so young Mapaches learn to rely on each other. Photo courtesy Los Mapaches.

When Mills, a Berkeley native, was a child, her parents’ interest in Latin American politics regularly brought the family to La Peña, where Mills fell in love with the music of the region. “It was a calling in me,” she says. During college she traveled to Ecuador, learned to play the zampoña, and performed with a traveling Andean band based in the United States. Then, eager to work with children, she took an after-school job at Berkwood Hedge elementary school in Berkeley (in addition to her work with Los Mapaches, she’s now the school’s music teacher). One afternoon in the spring of 1998, Mills brought her flutes for the after-school crowd to try out. Their enthusiasm quickly led to informal music sessions—and to the creation of Los Mapaches (a name chosen by students in honor of Mills’s favorite animal). From an initial membership of 15, the ensemble has grown to nearly 50 kids, ranging in age from 5 to 18. Incorporated as a nonprofit in 2007, the group is open to students from all East Bay schools.

Young Mapaches start out singing and playing zampoña, the instrument that Mills describes as “the glue, the bond that holds our group together.” The zampoña is a series of slender wooden tubes connected side by side, like a set of graduated steps. Sound is made by blowing across the top of the tubes, but there’s one caveat: a single zampoña provides only half of the musical scale. Players with an ira (a six-tube zampoña) must team up with someone playing an arca (a seven-tube instrument) to complete the scale and create a song.

“What’s magical in this is the way that the kids have to practice together,” says Mills. “The zampoña creates community and friendship in itself just by being an instrument that works in two parts. Boundaries dissipate; you need two people to make one melody.”

As kids get older, they progress to larger zampoñas and the tarka, a wooden instrument that looks like a recorder. Some Mapaches take up conga or bombo drums, guitar, or charango, a small 10-string guitar from the Andes. Although everyone learns to play the flutes, Mills doesn’t push her students toward other options. “Over the years,” she says, “the kids master their favorite instruments, discovering their talents, and developing their skills.”

The older Mapaches serve as mentors, assisting during weekly after-school classes and rehearsals, and helping the younger ones practice songs and dances. Although some teens might rate the wholesome, family-like ensemble high on the uncool meter, others have found a home there. Caitlin Hoshino-Fish joined the group in second grade and continued until last spring when she graduated from Berkeley High. “It makes me feel like I’m part of something important,” she says. The experience also builds friendships as groups of Mapaches grow up together. “It has kept us close,” says Cora Regas, an animated performer with an engaging grin who also stayed with the ensemble through high school. This year, Hoshino-Fish and Regas will travel together for several months in Peru, Brazil, and Chile—they plan to work in an orphanage, take guitar and dance lessons, learn Portuguese, and teach music at a school in Cuzco.

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In traditional Andean culture, men gather to play the pan flutes during agricultural events like the planting season or harvest. “Everyone plays,” says Mills, who strives to instill a sense of equality among the Mapaches. “You’re not necessarily a musician—you just need to be a part of the community.” By tradition, songs are learned by ear, a method that Mills has embraced. Although she’ll occasionally draw diagrams for children whose learning style demands it, she prefers to teach without paper and pencil. She quickly engages newcomers through singing games using animal puppets like an elefante (elephant) or a gatito (kitten) that make it fun to learn the Spanish song lyrics. “I want them to immediately feel that they’re part of the ensemble,” she says of her youngest members.

Berkeley mom Carolyn von Behren is the parent of two enthusiastic Mapaches, Zachary, 9, and Ava, 6. “We offered Zach piano lessons,” she says, “but he’d rather just have his zampoña.”

Piano lessons would almost certainly be easier on the family’s schedule. “It’s a big time commitment,” says von Behren. “Between rehearsals and performances, it can feel like a lot.” Parents are called on for chauffeuring, supervising rehearsals, providing snacks, and managing the group’s ListServ. A parent even serves as stage director, coordinating numerous details of lighting, setup, and blocking. But most of the adults are happy to pitch in because, as von Behren says, “the end product is so worthwhile.”

Mills inspires busy parents through her own Herculean efforts. She prepares the group for annual performances at Carnaval in San Francisco and the Berkeley-Albany Solano Stroll, as well as frequent appearances at La Peña, libraries, schools, senior centers, and other local venues. Orchestrating such performances is not what you would call a cakewalk—with dozens of children and a multitude of instruments, these varied, highly choreographed events are complex and elaborate. Mills has also overseen the recording of two CDs, an audition for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, multiple gatherings and potlucks—and then there’s the eagerly anticipated annual sleepover for the younger Mapaches that she hosts with husband Jorge Tapia.

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Back at La Peña, the rehearsal is well under way.

The youngest children take the stage first, singing in Spanish about a bus trip a la playa (to the beach) in Mexico. Two teens in the role of bus drivers play guitar, as does Mills. Between songs, she advises, organizes, and encourages. On stage with the Mapaches, Mills moves fluidly from one instrument to the next—first strumming a guitar, then playing a drum suspended from a cord slung around her neck. Like Mills, the kids switch comfortably between instruments—even the littlest Mapaches transition with ease, first playing zampoña, then singing, dancing, or doing both.

After a short break for snacks and setup, a group of teens takes the stage, joined by Tapia. Chilean by birth, Tapia is a skilled musician who can, according to his wife, “play any flute from the Andes.” Mills first noticed Tapia when she was a teenager and heard him perform at La Peña. Today he is an integral part of Los Mapaches, volunteering his time to work with the oldest ensemble, making all the pan flutes himself, and repairing instruments as necessary.

With the older kids come larger flutes, some nearly as tall as the players themselves. Wearing a bright orange shirt, a color that matches his energy on stage, Tapia sings and drums with the group, creating a driving beat beneath the melody. In the more upbeat tunes, the musicians cover a lot of territory on their zampoñas, moving their breath rapidly across the tops of the tubes. The resulting tones range from sweet high notes to a primal, throaty sound. Both the drums and the flutes lend strong percussion that leads to plenty of foot tapping in the audience.

When the younger kids return for the finale, Mills reminds them with a wink, “This is our ‘last’ song.” The little ones smile and nod, delighted to be in the know about the well-planned encore. In three days, they’ll be back on this stage for the evening performance, decked out in embroidered blouses, vests, and cummerbunds reminiscent of traditional Andean costumes. Against this vivid backdrop, many of the older Mapaches will sport outfits purchased in the Andes, with bowler hats and full skirts called polleras for the girls, and Bolivian ponchos for the guys. And, as is invariably the case when the group performs at La Peña, they’ll play for a standing-room-only crowd.

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Valeria Aguirreche, 10, of Richmond, knew she wanted to join Los Mapaches even before she started kindergarten. Her family is Venezuelan, and her mom, Waleska Herrera, frequently brought her daughter to La Peña for a Saturday morning song and dance program. “I wanted her to be in touch with her culture,” says Herrera. “One day we saw Los Mapaches perform there, and when Valeria saw Cora Regas, she said, ‘Mommy, I want to be like her.’”

Herrera adds, “For Valeria and the other kids to learn the culture of South America through music is just beautiful.”

Roxana Ferreira, a native of Peru, concurs. “We find our roots in the music,” she says. “Lydia is bringing us traditions and songs that I learned from my grandma.”

Her daughter Gabriella, 7, is proud to share the music with her relatives. “When I go to Peru I can sing different songs to my family,” she says. “I call them on the phone and sing in Spanish.”

The younger Mapaches will be an important force during the coming years. With the recent graduation of its older, core members, the 12-year-old group will be in transition as students like Aguirreche step up to become mentors. The ensemble also faces an ongoing crunch for funds, with expenses outweighing class fees. Upcoming plans include a fall fund drive and a pair of benefit concerts, one featuring Mills and Tapia.

Despite the cloudy financial picture, younger Mapaches still dream of performing in Latin America. And perhaps their aspirations aren’t so farfetched—in 2007, after much organizing and many garage and bake sales, a group of 30 (including parents and siblings) traveled with Mills to Bolivia and Peru. “In Bolivia, the music was really alive,” recalls Regas. “It’s not well known here, but the music we play is the music they play there on the radio; you hear it everywhere.”

In fact, Bolivian interest in Los Mapaches was so high that they spoke on radio shows and were interviewed on national TV, on a program comparable to “The Oprah Show.” In southern Peru, the group gave a press conference, and an entire town of 300 shut down to attend.

Los Mapaches also forged a friendship with a musical ensemble in La Paz, and the two groups came together for a traditional Andean potluck, a meal without tables, forks, or napkins. “The teacher does this with the love of his heart,” says Mills, praising the Bolivian ensemble director in words that might well be applied to her own work with North American children. In spite of the language barrier, the two groups shared a profound musical connection. “Again, it was the zampoña,” says Mills, tears filling her eyes. “Even though we couldn’t all talk with one another, we could play the zampoña together.”

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Los Mapaches will appear in the Berkeley-Albany Solano Stroll parade on Sept. 12. Fall concerts are slated at La Peña, Oct. 9 at 10:30 a.m. and Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

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Rachel Trachten is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to The Monthly. She also writes an online column for examiner.com about local resources for children with special needs.

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