The Latino face of the Super Bowl 50

Super Bowl Half Time Show

This week’s post came to me while watching the Super Bowl 50 Half Time Show. I heard that a great Venezuelan musician and conductor was going to be part of it, but it wasn’t until I saw him that the question hit me: how did he get there? So, I started doing my research.

I must say it: this post is close to my heart. I had to grab the opportunity to write about Venezuelan talent making a positive difference outside my home country; writing good things about my country.

Let’s get to it… Of course, I know who he is. I even had the pleasure to see him conduct the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela when he was just starting his path to success. The question remains, how did he get to the Super Bowl Half Time Show next to Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars? The answer is “El Sistema.” Let me walk you through it.

Leaving all the controversy aside, Gustavo Dudamel has become a world renowned musician and conductor. He conducted the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) and he is leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others, but he wouldn’t have gotten there if it wasn’t for El Sistema -as we know it in Venezuela- or the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras.

YOLA's rehearsal

This is a music program created in Venezuela in 1975 by Jose Antonio Abreu. This program managed to attract over half a million kids from different communities and change their life for the better. Dudamel is one of them, and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra is one of its best products. The program has touched the life of kids, as early as age two, and transformed them into great musicians, while getting them out of poverty.

Despite some criticism and backlash, the system’s success has been replicated in many countries, the United States being one. The YOLA is one of its best examples. The program, inspired by el Sistema and led by Dudamel, provides free instruments and music training to kids from underserved neighborhoods in Los Angeles. YOLA’sperformance and Dudamel’s conducting are a huge hit for causes like this, and for the positive efforts of Latinos abroad.

That’s what we like to call Talento de Exportacion.