Paraguay, the Guaraní and the Jesuits: Cultural Tourism

The name "Paraguay" used to mean the land near the Paraguay River (also the home of many of the Guaraní). Today, "Paraguay" is a much smaller place, the only country where Spanish and the language of most local people are equals. Guaraní speakers now also live in parts of Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarani_people]

Spanish and Portuguese slave traders killed and enslaved many of the Guaraní people living in Paraguay.
640px-Indian_Soldiers_from_the_Coritiba_Province_Escorting_Native_Prisoners (Public Domain)

640px-Jean Baptiste Debret, Indians Crossing a Creek: The Slave Hunter (Public Domain)

Jesuit priests established very successful missions in Paraguay. How did they do this? At first, the Jesuits and other Europeans were very surprised to find that the Guaraní showed great interest in and talent for music. The Jesuits used this love of music to help the Guaraní come to know God. They then helped these people establish independent villages in their own territories. There, they were usually safe from slave traders. After repeated attacks by large groups of slave traders, the Guaraní even received permission to establish their own small army (about 7,000 men) to defend themselves with guns.

The Guaraní earned lots of money by selling their products and their crops, and almost all of this money was spent on their own needs. The Spanish and Portuguese slave traders were very unhappy to see successful indians. Later, when the Jesuits were forced to leave South America, the slave traders came back to make slaves of the indians. This sad story is told in the beautiful 1986 movie: The Mission.

The video clip above is from the beginning of The Mission. The first Jesuits to meet the Guaraní were killed, but the missionaries didn't give up. Father Gabriel went all alone (and probably afraid for his life) into Guaraní territory, played his oboe and became a trusted friends of the Guaraní. This is a movie I will remember for the rest of my life. Please do try to see it!

This is a short selection of enchanting music from the film.

The Jesuit Mission of Chiquitos was restored and is now a World Heritage site (this brief video is in Spanish, with French and English subtitles)

Voyage en Bolivie : les missions jésuites de Chiquitos from Argentina Excepción on Vimeo.
In this video, you can see the inside of this beautiful church, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Below is a short (11-minutes) documentary about Bolivian baroque music and the churches where it was originally performed. You can see how the art work and the 5500 pages of music (lost for almost 300 years!) were preserved and restored. This video comes with English subtitles and the people speak slowly, so it is easy to understand.

The Sacred Music part 1 from Carien on Vimeo.


In this 45-minute longer video, you can see the beautiful insides of restored churches in Chiquitos and parts of a concert: Guaraní people are playing instruments and singing lovely music. This is a wonderful video for music lovers and people who are interested in the history of the Jesuits in South America.

Chiquitos-1 from St. Paul's Church on Vimeo.

More information about the music and how it was restored is in this article from National Public Radio in the US:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90321843

Three CDs of Bolivian Baroque music are available from Amazon.com. Here is CD 1:
http://www.amazon.com/Bolivian-Baroque-Florilegium-Ens/dp/B00079RNEU