In Panama, music runs through the veins of the people, regardless of their origin or social class. Panamanian history is interrelated with people from many parts of the world, being a meeting point for cultures from all over the world.
Today the media and the music industry focus more on popular musical genres such as ballads, salsa, reggaeton, rock’n roll, among others. However, classical orchestral music, although it is the oldest musical genre in the Western world, has influenced all types of music that we know.
For these reasons and all the potential that still needs to be developed in Panamanian music, the special report is with Master Jorge Ledezma Bradley. Panamanian musician with more than 30 years of musical career, who has successfully conducted more than 500 symphonic concerts in Panama, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, China (Beijing Symphony), El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Costa Rica. A pillar of Panamanian music that analyzes the potential of music to elevate culture to the place it really deserves.
How can music help further develop our potential as a country on a social and intellectual level?
“Music in ancient times was a fundamental practice in the social life of communities, since people live associated in cities and communities. Around the music is the dance, the costumes and the voices. This means that the number of people who are involved in this need to make music professionally is increasing. However, people can perfectly well be a musician without having to dedicate themselves to it professionally.
Music serves a great deal to interconnect the two brain hemispheres, which basically are not interconnected, but music develops that ability to interconnect both, in addition to being a very important social gatherer. There are concerts of modern singers from Europe that gather 100,000 people in a stadium, it is something amazing, and it multiplies even more when it is broadcast to other countries. Everyone who is watching the concert, whether live or from a distance, is intercommunicating, a fundamental element for the human species.”
With 81 years of history, what do you feel it has been the importance of the National Symphony and where do you want to take it in the short and medium term?
“Today, symphony orchestras in general around the world are a kind of meter or caliper of the country’s cultural development. Music is involved with all the other arts, or other artistic disciplines that people may profess or manifest. Music has the power to reach the depths of the human being, right in the area where words no longer have an effect, and where only sound can reach.
Our orchestra wants to continue growing and we are working today to increase the number of musicians, and improve the conditions in all aspects. At 81 years old, the orchestra is healthy, although it could be much better, but it continues to be a bastion of Panamanian culture in its connection with universal culture.”
According to your analysis, what would happen if every citizen in the country learned the basics to play an instrument?
“We would be an unstoppable country with unique people, an example to follow, because there is nothing that develops personality, emotional richness, stability, sociability more than music. To have hundreds or thousands of people standing in a plaza to watch a concert, of an orchestra or rock group, this means that music has that power to unite.”
If you were given the opportunity to make a musical composition together with the National Symphony to promote Panama around the world, what would you be inspired by?
“Obviously as a basic material for the composition, whether vocal or orchestral, I would be inspired by the rhythms of Panamanian percussion. Very rich rhythms, but with many variants such as the Congos, the bullarengue, the Azuero drum, the great North drum in Veraguas and in Chiriqui with its most characteristic manifestations. That would inspire me, because there is wonderful material to create music and give us Panamanians an identity as a people.”
What are the regions in Panama with the greatest potential to develop musical talent and make it an attraction for Panamanians and foreigners?
“I would not say regions in Panama, I feel that the entire country is a musical country, which indeed has great potential to develop that talent and that there are more and more professional musicians. Yes, there are areas in Panama that are very marked by their music, for example Azuero is a musical region with a certain style, in Veraguas music is made but with variations, in Chiriqui the same. In Colon, music is very rich because of its diversity, and likewise in Darien. The entire country has a fabulous raw material, to continue deepening the musical identity of Panamanians.”
Photos courtesy: Master Jaime Ledezma Bradley
