April 26, 2011 – Mexico City, Mexico… Benjamin Garcia/IAD
About 130 pathfinders from various places of Mexico and other countries made up the Mega Band for the Camporee which enriched the worship service and presented a concert Sabbath afternoon.
The invitation to be part of the Mega Band was launched in February this year through Montemorelos University virtual page umtuclub.com. From there, participants could download the music for the parts to be played.
More than 250 individuals gathered at UM Tu Club’s campsite to enjoy beautiful music like “Faith of Our Fathers,” “Seagate,” “Canon Pachelbell,” “Crown Him,” “Palladio,” among other interpretations during the concert offered by the group.
At just 13 years of age, Josue Israel Roblero who plays the flute and is from Mexico City, knew of the activity through his dad and realized his dream of playing in band. “I felt good because I met people who played the same instrument I play,” said in the interview while his grandma watched him with tears in her eyes after seeing him play in the mega band.
Ismael Isaac Jean, who played tenor sax, studied two years at École Nationale de Musique de Haïti, and found out about the Mega Band through a friend. He said it is something he will never forget.
Although she does not belong to a club, Eunice Grijlve, who played first clarinet, came from Houston to be part of the Mega Band. She learned about it through Facebook.
Fany Friego (transversal flute), Ingrid Cadenas (alto sax), Abi Lopez (transversal flute), David Mena (French horn) and Harold Chin (baritone sax), a group from Villahermosa, Tabasco, in Southeast Mexico, rehearsed the pieces meeting once a week.
Another group of pathfinders coming from San Luis Potosí, in northeast Mexico, practiced after the Sundays and Wednesdays worship services in their churches, and other days in the afternoons, as their parents took turn to bring them food.
The band comprised of forty members of the Montemorelos University Band (MU), while ninety members of the Mega Band came from various states of Mexico like Baja California, Leon, San Luis Potisí, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatán, and other countries like the United States, Haiti, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Martinique.
“It was something new, very special, because many downloaded their music, they enrolled, rehearsed by themselves and then we got together here to rehearse and the result was very good, very nice,” said David Aguilar, band director.
During the concert President of Montemorelos University Ismael Castillo, congratulated those who answered the invitation to be part of the Mega Band. He commented that their participation had been a great blessing during the camporee.
Juan Jorge Acuña, Promotion and Recruiting Director of MU and general coordinator of UM Tu Club, said to the actors: “Kids, you are now part of the UM Tu Club’s Mega Band, and wherever we would meet and see again, we will invite you. Therefore, continue playing your instrument.”
Acuña is hopeful that hundreds will join the Mega Band in Inter-America’s IV Pathfinder Camporee to be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2017.
To find out more about UM tu club, go to www.umtuclub.com
