Photo By Master Sgt. Daryl Knee | U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nadia Sosnoski, Max Impact vocalist, performs music for...... read more read more
Subscribe
The Peruvian and U.S. Air Force bands partnered together to play to more than 80,000 attendees of the Chiclayo Airshow 2024 from June 15-16, 2024, in Chiclayo, Peru.
Max Impact, the premiere rock band of the U.S. Air Force band in Washington D.C., and band members from La Fuerza Aérea del Perú played popular music from both cultures to engage with the audience between the aerial demonstrations of the airshow. Some of the Peruvian band members even played along with the American performance.
“Music connects people,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Hoerber, director of operations for the U.S. Air Force Band. “It brings people together. We don’t have to speak the same language, but from a human perspective, the music ties us together. There’s a synergy of learning their Afro-Peruvian rhythms infused into our American rock-pop and jazz - when the two are together, there’s a stronger presentation. We are building friendships based on the cultural sharing of our music.”
To prepare for this chance at developing relationships, the U.S. team had been practicing for nearly a month prior to departing for Lima, Peru, in early June as part of Resolute Sentinel 2024, a three-week partnership building exercise designed to reinforce the alliance between Peru and the U.S. A unique part of this mission was the manpower piece, since many of the brass players accompanying the band came from other flights due to the many world-wide deployments of band members.
Specifically, the U.S. Air Force Band in D.C.conducts roughly 1,600 missions a year split between the federally mandated performances at Arlington National Cemetery and events like the Chiclayo Airshow. The overall Air Force band purpose is to honor, inspire and connect with communities all over the world, reaching more than six million listeners at over 5,000 live and televised performances each year.
Flexibility, then, is key to how each band member can plug into any situation and perform as one unified “voice.”
“We, in a foreign nation, are such a unique novelty,” Hoerber explained. “We are something that they don’t see every day, so there is a huge draw to us with questions like, ‘Why are the Americans here?’ When we start playing, they can see it visually with our musicians playing together, they can hear it sonically from the music we put out, and emotionally, it hits them right in the chest and the heart.
“If we can play this music together, then what else can we do together,” he added about the seamless integration of the band at the airshow.
Louis Enrique Felix Chogano, Third Air Force Technician and Peruvian Air Force band trumpet player, said it was a great experience for all of his teammates.
“I believe that music unites us,” he said. “Music is its own language, and it unites all nations. We are very happy for the relationship between the U.S. and Peru.I hope that one day we can travel to the United States to bring some of our culture to U.S. audiences.”
Hoerber said the effort to bring the equipment for live American music here was tough, but the smiles and waves made all the hard work worthwhile.
“Missions like this are life memories for everyone involved - for our musicians, for the Peruvian musicians,” he said. “I’m going to remember all the work that went into this, but I’m also going to have a giant smile on my face, a lump in my throat and some joy in my heart from this experience. I hope this propels the relationship even greater between our two nations.”
Peru and the U.S. have been long-standing allies, and the band’s joint performance is an instant, visible representation of the interoperability to the citizens of Peru. And just as the participants asked for encores after the music was over, the same sentiment is present for future Peru and U.S. joint efforts.
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2024 11:06 |
| Story ID: | 474101 |
| Location: | CHICLAYO, PE |
| Web Views: | 258 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Music unites nations, reinforces friendships, by MSgt Daryl Knee, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
