Venezuela: Maduro Sworn in as Interim President

Vice President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in on Friday night as the interim leader replacing recently deceased President Hugo Chávez.

“I accept this (presidential sash) though it truly belongs to Chávez,” said Maduro shortly after receiving the oath of office in the ceremony held in the federal legislative chambers.  He vowed to continue the Bolivarian Revolution policies espoused by the leader who died on Tuesday after battling cancer for approximately two years.

"I swear by the most absolute loyalty to comrade Hugo Chavez that we will fulfill and see that it's fulfilled the constitution ... with the iron fist of a people ready to be free," Maduro said.

Although Maduro claimed that he respected the U.S. he warned that the “imperialist elites who govern the United States will have to learn to live with absolute respect with the insurrectional people of the ... Latin and Caribbean America.”

Maduro also blasted the Venezuelan opposition, most of who opted to skip the ceremony in protest.  He urged Chavistas to avoid being “provoked by those who have come out today to act crazily despite your pain.” 

Hours before the ceremony, former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles accused the Venezuelan Supreme Court of endorsing “constitutional fraud” by permitting Maduro to be sworn in.

"I tell you clearly, Nicolas, I am not going to speak of the times you lied to the country, shamelessly…The people have not voted for you, boy," the Miranda state governor said.

In his first action as interim president, Maduro named Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, Chavez' son-in-law, as the next vice president.  Maduro also requested Venezuelan electoral officials to “immediately” organize new, constitutionally mandated presidential elections. 

De Musica Ligera: Nobel for “El Sistema”?

The latest edition of the Grammy Awards on Sunday night will most likely be remembered for Adele winning six trophies as well as the tributes to the recently deceased Whitney Houston. In terms of Latino music, one of the event’s biggest surprises was Mana beating out Calle 13 to win in the Latin Pop, Rock or Urban Album category. Yet an even greater surprise could occur later this year thanks to another Grammy winner: Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Dudamel may’ve won his Grammy with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their recording of Brahms' Fourth Symphony, but since 1999 he has served as the music director of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. This orchestra is an important product of El Sistema, a novel music education program run in Venezuela. Founded in 1975 by former economist José Antonio Abreu, the El Sistema network has helped teach classical music to at least 250,000 youth including children from impoverished economic backgrounds. The program has received government support since 1977 and has been critically acclaimed around the world.

In 2008 Abreu won both the Glenn Gould Prize and the Prince of Asturias Award for he Arts. He could earn a greater recognition later this year after representatives of the International Hagiography Academy nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. “Master Abreu has met all the conditions because he made music the language of peace and a symbol of Venezuela,” proclaimed the Academy’s president, Monsignor Rafael Febres Cordero, last month.

Should José Antonio Abreu become the first Latin American in two decades to win the Nobel Peace Prize? Perhaps the music from the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra will help you decide:

Video Source – YouTube via TEDtalksDirector

Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, The Onion A.V. Club, The Telegraph, El-Nacional.com

Arte Para Todos: Gustavo the gifted

It wouldn't be too large of a stretch to call Gustavo Dudamel this generation's Leonard Bernstein; a brilliant young conductor who has wowed the world of classical music. Dudamel is the main success story from "El Sistema"- Venezuela's famed music education program for thousands of youths- and has parlayed his talents to become music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At the age of 29, the wunderkind he has not forgotten his roots in Barquisimeto as observed in this 2008 "60 Minutes" interview:

"The music saved me. I'm sure of this. With all these bad things around you, you are exposed to these things, very close. The music give me a way to be far of these things," Dudamel says...

Asked if he feels like the ambassador of "the system," Dudamel tells (correspondent Bob) Simon, "In a good way, yes. I think that it's not Gustavo Dudamel. It's the Venezuelan system."

Below is a 2007 performance of Dudamel conducting a stirring rendition from his homeland's Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra. (Dudamel has served as the Orchestra's artistic director for over a decade).

Online Sources - YouTube, CBS News, BBC News