Several thousands of El Sistema musicians gathered at Venezuela’s Military Academy (yes, Military Academy) last Saturday, to play Tchaikovsky’s Slavonic March and some other pieces with the goal to set the record as the world’s largest orchestra. Apparently 8,097 instruments were playing simultaneously, yet El Sistema had hoped to gather 12,000 musicians.
Unfortunately numerous media around the world published the news without questioning the fact that El Sistema is a government manipulated organization that has lost its credibility and that the musicians probably were mostly forced to attend.
Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero has condemned the Guinness action as one initiated by the Chavez government’s propaganda machine. Another comments said: « The prostitution of the System has taken a big step forward. It was a shameful spectacle. »
