News from Cântaro Belo Horizonte

by Karla Polanczyk, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, cantaro.com.br

In May we had one more Cântaro “birthday”...

We went through strong changes, when (unfortunately!) Flávia returned to São Paulo, in 2019. After that we had a new singing teacher who stayed a year and left. And then came Covid-19.

Our group is now a much smaller group than it was five years ago. We are now around 18 lyres in Belo Horizonte, among very beginners and advanced lyres. We remain always strong and aware of the importance of the lyre and kantele sounds in our world, especially nowadays. I (Karla) am now the only one responsible for the kantele, lyre and singing groups at Cântaro Belo Horizonte.

Whenever possible, as has been the case since April 2021, we have in-person classes, always according to covid-19 security protocols. Unfortunately, in Brazil, we don't know how long we will be able to keep classroom lessons. But even when classes need to be online, all students continue with classes, as best as they can, until the city is back up and running.

We had a very rich meeting with some lyre players from different classes, in a beautiful and opened place. We could play and sing together the pieces that everyone and every small group play, each in their class. It was a “meeting of groups", a small lyre workshop with Cântaro´s students.

Here are some photos of this meeting:

Pictured below: In the warmth of St. John´s festivities, united in singing and lyre, we renew our strength and rekindle our light, which we carry forward like our lanterns that show us the way each day, every day!

We always appreciate, after each class and each meeting, the possibility of having such wonderful lyres and kanteles to nourish our souls and our hearts!

I hope I was able to tell and show to you how important it is to us to continue this work playing the lyres, even in such difficult and, in so many different aspects, challenging times!

Karla Polanczyk

Warm greetings from Brazil!