Tito La Rosa: Principios de Vida
Hear and feel the soul of ancient sounds in the Sacred Valley of the Incas with Tito La Rosa.and the 7 principles of life in the Andean cosmovision.
- Harmonious interrelationships
- Sacralization
- The power of diversity
- Duality
- Munay: the energy of Love
- Ayni: The cosmic law of reciprocity
- Complementarity
Written by Pablo Moreno
“It can be intimidating that while I play an instrument to think of all the incredible musicians that have played it before me hundreds of years ago. But it is also inspiring at the same time. “
During a three-month learning trip in Urubamba I was an instructor to a wonderful group of students from Tufts University-Boston. We lived together for three months in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, full of learning, stories, adventures, nature and sharing.
Out of everything we went through, there were some activities that will stay with us forever. In the heart of the most beautiful of the Sacred Valley, we found in Huayoccari a man who decided in his life to studying ancient Peruvian sounds. To hear and see this inspiring man so passionately play old instruments that he himself figured out to play was incredible. Tito doesn’t speak English but his charisma, passion and music filled the space. He told us many stories that we translated. One of the first things he said was that when he was around the age of our students, he decided not to be a lawyer as his parents him wanted to become, because he would have been the worst lawyer ever, he said in his own words. He decided to follow his incredible passion for sounds and music and he promised himself to dedicate his life to the healing sounds of music and to recover long forgotten instruments from ancient Peruvian cultures.
Tito la Rosa is a world citizen and for him music, ancestral instruments and being surrounded by nature are the most precious things that human beings can have and experience. From nature he obtains his sounds and inspirations and connection with the «ancestral».
In a four hour session with our eight students we had the opportunity to learn to think and reflect on how blessed we were to be there: alive, aware and willingly learning new things and a totally new perspective.
To be honest, I didn’t really know what the matter was about, but I never thought I would meet a person here with such inspiring stories, knowledge, openness and a good ear to listen to the thoughts and questions of a group of young students. We were all blown away with the experience that is hard to put in words. We heard sounds that transported us through history and carried our imagination through the universe. . One of our students in the group, the Chinese Charles Wang, who is a virtuoso pianist who traveled since his childhood and went to thousands of music performances, was so touched by Tito’s talent he said to Tito that he was the most admirable and best musician he had ever met in his life. Tito, shocked, said with instant tears in his eyes:»nobody has ever said something so nice to me.»
In our music session, Tito spoke to us about the seven Principles of the ancient Andean World that I found very interesting and I want to share them with you here as a gift from Tito and our Peruvian culture.
Before continuing reading we can agree or not with them and that’s fine, only if they make you curious, keep reading and enjoy them.
The first principle tells us about the importance of harmonious interrelationships between everything and everyone, friends, partner, community… in harmony. In harmony with nature and with admiration for it; The recognition and gratitude of being able to be there in the Valley, all together for three months, giving us the possibility of creating harmonious interrelationships, which may last forever, physically and in memories.
The second principle has to do with what the Andean ancestors “made sacred” for them. Based on this, the relationship with what you sacralize changes. For example: stones, mountains, rivers, pacarina which is the birthplace of children, the lake, the lake, the seeds, that gave them inspiration and the strength to build an eternal civilization; which is still valid. It’s not over. People continue to consider the sacredness of what they sacralize. People in the Peruvian Andes still live like this. If you spend some time here, you will see that everyday life is full of allusions to the sacred, and it is very related to nature.
The third principle is diversity. That of traditions and those of your family, languages, religions, culture, dances, food, human relations, races. This diversity helps to preserve and protect us, respect and tolerate us. Diversity leads us to establish relationships in harmony with the different and with the unknown. It teaches us the virtue of respect, non-discrimination; It teaches us the importance of languages. To give more importance to seeds than to gold, because it perpetuates us sustainably and this because there are various and diverse seeds. The wealth of all, the many races; not a superior culture, they all have a lot of value. Cassie, a very sharp student said: “Those who come for the first time and have time to look are surprised by the devotion, faith (wait for rain, day, night) and spirituality of the people”. That spirituality helps to find value and then to build the vision of your life. Everything, everything, everything is within us. And something that we were not taught is to look inside, neither at school nor at the university.
The fourth principle is duality: day and night, masculine and feminine are complementary. Everything needs to be in balance, harmony, this is how nature is made.
The fifth principle is the Munay. «The energy of Love», which lives within each of us. First, a feeling of love towards yourself to be able to give it to others. LOVING YOU. That is the feeling that we share with the rest of the others, in good relationship. Is not easy. Not the love of a couple but love as a natural feeling, as a principle. Love as energy. Can we ask ourselves what we have done for love today? Here it was funny because I mentioned that every day at 8 in the morning we wake them up to do their activities. That effort, even if it seems annoying, is for love. Laughter!
Munay is not easy, but it is key in life. As Tito says: “Remember!”
The sixth principle is reciprocity: AYNI. Ayni or reciprocity is a cosmic law. All experiences in Urubamba have reciprocity, sharing in a voluntary balance. There is a balance between what we have received and what we have given during our stay in Urubamba in these three months, learn life lessons. AYNI will always protect us. Important to preserve the culture, the Ayni is a commandment for the Incas. It is essential and crucial to grow.
Finally, the principle of «Complementarity»: everything has its complement. I am not alone. Look for your complement in life. look for it!
Integrate these life principles into your lives. Build your lives on some or all of these principles.
Nobody teaches us to look inside. When you are about to leave life, you start to think about this. Nobody teaches us to reflect or order some thoughts that can help us throughout life.
Some will say that they are similar to other principles or rules of life, what I was interested in sharing is what we lived that day, learned and left pending in the lives of our eight students and in my own.
You may agree or not, all is good, but I recommend visiting Tito La Rosa if you have the chance. For me it was a personal, musical and life experience!
There is something incredible in the way old instruments come alive. I don’t know if it is scientifically proven but there is definitely something real about it. The musician who plays an old instrument has to search for the instruments authentic voice and brings it back to life. The fact the musician knows something of the history of an instrument will make him or her feel and play in a different. It is not only about the musician, it is about the instrument and both of them together feeling the body of the sound come a life that can be over a thousand years old. It is real and it can be heard and felt and has a lot of power.