Larry Salgado leads the Coro Vozandes during Radio Station HCJB's annual Quito Day concerts.

(Jan. 16, 2013 - by Ralph Kurtenbach) It began with a declaration, but soon enough asked a question. And then a concert in Quito, Ecuador, concluded with a child's life-changing invitation, "O come to my heart, Lord Jesus!"

No sooner had the full auditorium finished the last notes of its robust, choral homage to Quito than a pensioner at the back yelled out, "Viva Quito!" (long live Quito).

"Viva Quito!" was the quick reply from the crowd at the Sunday, Nov. 25, concert in the Casa de la Cultura in Quito, a modern, world-class city whose 1534 founding places its beginnings in the era of conquistadores and a vanquished Inca empire.

Performed by Radio Station HCJB's Coro Vozandes (Voice of the Andes Choir), the Himno a Quito* saluted the Ecuadorian capital with "We cry fervently, greeting you, you immortal city."

"Glory to you San Francisco de Quito, in your history, so noble and so loyal" served to conclude the laudatory hymn, and launched two hours of entertainment that also challenged attendees to put the Christmas story into contemporary terms.

Since the 1960s HCJB Global has hosted the concerts which celebrate Ecuador's cultural heritage and feature centrally in Quito's calendar of anniversary celebrations. Concertgoers at the most recent performance were treated to a video created by Tamara Torres and her husband, Dwight Gregorich, both graduates of HCJB Global's Christian Center of Communications.

The audience in the darkened theater room watched the video's Mary and Joseph characters trudge through various sectors of Quito in search of shelter from the evening cold. As they wend their way along highways, through parks and down winding streets, their plight plays out before the stunning beauty of Quito's skyline as well as in the city's historic center where colonial-era buildings still stand.

Nathalie Llizo and Ahmed Otero prepared a special drama and served as key actors, helping to tie all of the music together.

The video's theme complemented a drama that radio program hosts Ahmed Otero and Nathalie Llizo had specially prepared. They served as key actors in the drama, which helped to tie all of the music together.

Interviewed afterwards, Joanna Mena, a resident from Valle de los Chillos, a valley southeast of Quito, was a member of the audience this year, although she has performed with the choir in prior years. The three-times-a-week evening rehearsals represent a substantial time commitment. Mena said she found the choral group´s performance prompted nostalgia and enjoyment.

Another Quito-area resident, Evoli Quiñonez, was a first-time attendee and loved the concert. Her friend, Laura Delgado, observed, however, that concerts in earlier years had captured Ecuador´s historic musical traditions, whereas the 2012 event explored new ground. "But the meaning has remained the same," she said. Historically, the concerts have offered people the gospel even as contexts and art forms have changed.

After more choral numbers, directed by Larry Salgado and accompanied by big-band music, what followed was simplicity. A child, played by Katherine Liss, stood center stage which was made up to look like a bedroom and invited Jesus in with the song, "O come to my heart, Lord Jesus! There is room in my heart for Thee."

*Himno a Quito by Monsignor Bernardino Echeverría and P. Agustín de Askúnaga (translation by Ralph Kurtenbach)

Source: HCJB Global