Nestled in the Bolivian Amazon, the small, majority-Indigenous town of Urubicha has become an unexpected hub of violin makers, also known as luthiers. Out of a population of some 8,000 people, most of whom are native Guarayos, some 40-50 work directly in the trade, local resident Waldo Papu tells AFP. “I have not seen a place where so many violins are made,” he said.
Papu heads up the Urubicha Institute of Artistic Training, Choir and Orchestra - one of the most well-known baroque music schools in Bolivia with about 600 students. About 20 or so students are learning to make violins, carrying on the tradition practiced by elders such as Hildeberto Oreyai. The master craftsman, 76, tells AFP he was led into the practice by his father.
He takes two weeks to make a classical four-stringed instrument. “You have to work with the instrument. It is done with patience, so that it comes out well,” he said in a mixture of Spanish and Guarayo, one of Bolivia’s 37 official Indigenous languages.
Each violin is made from cedar or mara - a local hardwood - and sells for the equivalent of about $580. Roots in tradition A widower with five children and several grandchildren, Oreyai speaks little and has had hearing problems for a while. With his luthier’s ear impaired, he tunes practically by heart.
“I really like to play,” he says, sitting outside his rustic workshop. Unlike some others in the town, Oreyai has been unable to convince any descendants to take up the violin-makin.
