Atahualpa Lichy

« The Mystery of the Lagoons, Andean Fragments » has as a principal stage the so called « Villages of the South », located in the region of the Venezuelan Andes. These lost villages were isolated among mountains, until a few years ago. Even though the access using four wheel drive vehicles started bringing in the “civilization” the traditions are kept, while in places with an easier access these are disappearing. The stories told with humor by the peasants and artisans will allow us to recreate old times. Trough them, we will have a lesson of life. They will tell and sing their stories for us, often accompanied by the typical Andean violin, with its rustic sound, by the guitar or the cuatro, a kind of small four string guitar which is the traditional Venezuelan instrument. The “taitas”, the Indians’ ancestors, left record of their pass in the Venezuelan Andes and their mark has remained alive in the daily life and in certain practices and believes imbued in a marked syncretism. Even when the general image of the Andean is of a fervently catholic people, we find ourselves before the presence of the “Mohanes” powerful Shamans, who still keep the secret language to dominate the elements of Nature, they are respected and feared at the same time. We will travel backwards in time, following the thread that created the legends, through oral tradition and songs that will reveal a collective conscience and the characteristics of their culture.