Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05LIMA4393
2005-10-12 20:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Lima
Cable title:  

Tim Laughlin Jazz Quartet Tours Peru

Tags:  KPAO PE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 004393 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR R JCURTIN, WHA/PDA MDCONNERS/GADAMS/SLEBENS,
ECA/PE JNELSON, ECA/PE/C/CU DSCHUMAN

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PE
SUBJECT: Tim Laughlin Jazz Quartet Tours Peru


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 004393

SIPDIS

STATE FOR R JCURTIN, WHA/PDA MDCONNERS/GADAMS/SLEBENS,
ECA/PE JNELSON, ECA/PE/C/CU DSCHUMAN

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PE
SUBJECT: Tim Laughlin Jazz Quartet Tours Peru



1. "We can't go back to our homes right now, so we thought
we would bring a little bit of our home town- New Orleans-
to the good people of Peru." With that simple but powerful
statement, clarinetist Tim Laughlin captured the hearts of
audiences during a four-city concert tour of Peru Oct. 1-11,

2005. Appearing in Arequipa, Cusco, Lima and Huancayo, the
Tim Laughlin Quartet underscored the perseverance and
vitality of the cultural contributions of New Orleans while
thanking the government and people of Peru for their support
to the victims of hurricane Katrina.


2. Tim Laughlin, Tom McDermott, Bradford Truby and Ron
Magli proved to be excellent representatives of New Orleans
and the United States as well as consummate professional
musicians. In master classes with music students, meetings
with local contacts and interviews with the media, all
members of the quartet were articulate, accessible and
gracious, exhibiting a genuine interest in the Peruvians
they met. Their energy, obvious dedication to their music
and their city and willingness to share their expertise
especially impressed music students during the master
classes.


3. PAS Lima arranged the Laughlin Quartet tour together
with bi-national centers in Arequipa, Cusco and Huancayo and
with the University of Lima and American Chamber of Commerce
in Lima. A high point of the tour came on October 6, when
the quartet played at the Ambassador's residence in Lima as
the featured act for a fund-raiser for Katrina victims
organized by the American Chamber of Commerce of Peru. Half
of the proceeds of the fund-raiser went to victims of the
recent earthquake in northern Peru.


4. Program details:

a. Arequipa- BNC Arequipa arranged a concert on October 1
in the Municipal Theater of the city, capacity about 900.
The enthusiastic, standing room only (SRO) crowd of students
and BNC contacts called the quartet back on stage for an
encore and gave them a standing ovation.
b. Cusco- BNC Cusco held a morning master-class and evening
concert in their auditorium on October 3. The SRO concert
audience of students, local officials and BNC associates
reached over 400.
c. Lima- The quartet held four master classes, two at local
international high-schools (both with a majority of Peruvian
students),one at the National Music Conservatory and
another with the National Youth Jazz Association. On
October 6 and 7, the group appeared in two concerts, the
first being the AMCHAM-sponsored fund-raiser for Katrina and
Peruvian earthquake victims at the Ambassador's residence.
Over 250 top government and business leaders attended. On
October 7, the University of Lima provided their 800-seat
auditorium free of charge for a concert that also included
the youth jazz band of the Peruvian Association of New
Music. Crowd again was full capacity and enthusiastic.
d. Huancayo- The quartet traveled to the central Andean
city of Huancayo for a concert on October 9 arranged with
the local BNC. A capacity crowd of over 200 filled the
BNC's new auditorium.


5. Media coverage: Press coverage was ample. On October
9, influential daily, El Comercio's Saturday supplement
magazine "Somos" (circulation 116,200) carried a two-page
article with photos of the quartet, and, on October 8,
centrist daily Peru21 (circulation 54,500) carried a story
on Tim Laughlin's views on the future of jazz in New Orleans
and on the October 7 University of Lima concert. Cable TV
Channel N carried the October 7 Lima concert live and
repeated segments of the concert throughout the weekend of
October 8-9 (Note that Channel N is carried on cable systems
throughout Peru.) Provincial newspaper and television also
covered the program in Arequipa, Cusco and Huancayo.


6. Program Goals addressed: The Tim Laughlin Quartet
provided the USG and mission with an outstanding vehicle
through which to express our sincere thanks to the
government and people of Peru for their help and expressions
of concern following Hurricane Katrina. The program also
reinforced the message that although New Orleans and the
American south have suffered a grievous blow, the people of
the region will persevere, exhibiting the same energy and
creativity evident in their most famous cultural
contribution, jazz.


7. PAS Lima wishes to thank WHA/PD for including us in this
tour, and we especially want to thank Blakeney Lowe for her
excellent work arranging the administrative details of the
program.

STRUBLE