WHEN young Chilean miner Manuel Munoz arrived in Perth 30 years ago there were, he now reckons, just 100 people who could get a note out of a pan pipe.
The music of the Andes was almost completely unknown to West Aussies, although by then the exotic and ethereal sound was taking Europe by storm courtesy of a stream of refugees fleeing Chile’s music-hating dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Munoz says Perth’s small population of exiles, estimated to be about 1000 families, was overwhelmed by their new surroundings and clung to music as a reminder of their mountainous home. They also used it to educate West Aussies about the brutality of Pinochet, who headed a junta responsible for murdering thousands.
“We tried to make a big revolution from over here, but the only thing we could offer was the music,” Munoz remembers.
He formed pipe band Huaira, which first performed at Cafe Folkloric in Northbridge, home to Kulcha’s first guise, the North Perth Ethnic Music Centre: “Not many people knew about this type of music, but the ethnic centre opened the door for us and we participated in many festivals.”
The music proved so popular that 30 years later Hauira’s still pumping out tunes, although Munoz is its only original member. In the intervening years he’s taught thousands of school kids to play pan pipes and last year was awarded life membership of Kulcha. Many in the community moved to Fremantle, attracted by its cosmopolitan feel, and played a big part in the development of the Meeting Place in South Fremantle, which started life as an ethnic centre.
Chile’s democratic revolution was slow to come, and one well-known Western Australian seemingly missed the group’s warnings about Pinochet; Alan Bond created an international furore in 1988 when he bought half of Chile’s telephone company and was photographed grinning and shaking hands with the general. There were big protests around the country and the positive PR he’d garnered winning the America’s Cup five years before diminished so much his photograph was burned in effigy.
The memory remains sharp enough for a look of sadness to flash across Munoz’s face today.
Pinochet—whom Margaret Thatcher regarded a personal friend—fell in 1990 and Munoz says the country is a great place to visit these days.
“It’s very quiet and very nice compared to when I left, and a lot more democratic.”
He’s pleased to see youngsters have much greater access to music tuition and instruments and he recently convinced his son Sebastian to travel there for the first time.
During Sebastian’s travels, it was the Bolivian arm of Andes music that attracted him most: “The music is very big there, because that’s really where it came from and that’s the music we play most,” he says.
It’s also a consequence of Pinochet’s hatred of musicians: Bolivia had already undergone a revolution to overthrow its junta and in the aftermath celebrated folkloric traditions.
Partially as a result of that, Pinochet regarded all folk musicians as potential revolutionaries and set about destroying them.
Many bands went into exile or were imprisoned, and prominent musician Vitor Jara was tortured and killed by the military.
Huaira guitarist Hugo Alvarez says things are very different for the musos in Perth these days.
“I was watching a Chilean group at a soccer field and the music was amazing, but the Chilean people did not really listen,” he says.
“But when we play for Australians, they really pay attention.”
by STEVE GRANT