Arete Guasu
A unique multimedia performance inspired by enslaved Argentinian singers on a Rochdale-owned plantation.
Arete Guasu is the Indigenous term for the “Great Feast” of the indigenous Ava Guaraní people of Northern Argentina – a celebration where the living encounter their ancestors. It represents remembrance, gratitude, and the connection between past, present, and future.
La Esperanza sugar plantation in Jujuy was owned by the Leach Brothers, British industrialists from Rochdale. In 1905, the German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche made early recordings of songs performed by members of the Ava-Guaraní, held at the time in bonded labour on the plantation. The songs were recorded under degrading conditions and without free consent, as part of an anthropological study on people whom Lehmann-Nitsche himself described as “primitive.” Degrading photographs of the people were also taken.
Performer Rafael Montero is a descendant of the people heard in these recordings, and depicted in these photos. His performance draws upon the songs recorded by Lehmann-Nitsche, recounts the story of their forced appropriation, and concludes with a participatory indigenous reconciliation ceremony.
Arete Guasu is the Indigenous term for the “Great Feast” of the indigenous Ava Guaraní people of Northern Argentina – a celebration where the living encounter their ancestors. It represents remembrance, gratitude, and the connection between past, present, and future.
La Esperanza sugar plantation in Jujuy was owned by the Leach Brothers, British industrialists from Rochdale. In 1905, the German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche made early recordings of songs performed by members of the Ava-Guaraní, held at the time in bonded labour on the plantation. The songs were recorded under degrading conditions and without free consent, as part of an anthropological study on people whom Lehmann-Nitsche himself described as “primitive.” Degrading photographs of the people were also taken.
Performer Rafael Montero is a descendant of the people heard in these recordings, and depicted in these photos. His performance draws upon the songs recorded by Lehmann-Nitsche, recounts the story of their forced appropriation, and concludes with a participatory indigenous reconciliation ceremony.
