BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) β Venezuela’s network of youth orchestras has been praised the world over as a model for uplifting disadvantaged youth by connecting them with classical music.
But a new book by British musicologist Geoffrey Baker portrays El Sistema as a “model of tyranny” where brutal, marathon practice sessions mirror the apparently unlimited power and top-down style of its magnetic founder, Jose Antonio Abreu.
El Sistema’s backers reject his charges.
Upright bass player Abraham Maduro compares it to American football, saying that “to be on a team, you have to have extreme discipline. The coach doesn’t say please and thank you.”
