At dusk, Romayne Wheeler sits in front of her grand piano in a living room-studio whose bay windows overlook the depths of the great canyons of Mexico. The American pianist begins to play music inspired by the inhabitants of this region of the Western Sierra Madre, the indigenous community of the Tarahumaras with whom he has lived in unison for decades.
Born in California 81 years ago, the composer and soloist no longer lives in the kind of troglodyte cave where he slept and played the electric piano powered by solar energy when he discovered this area among the most isolated in Mexico, over 40 years ago. But he feels closer than ever to nature and the community that has welcomed him, sharing its lifestyle, music and culture. “I really feel that this whole area around me is my studio,” says Romayne Wheeler as she opens the doors of her stone house, built on the edge of the precipice. “Every tree, every plant, every flower, everything here speaks to me,” he adds in his refuge located several hours by road – and mountain paths – from the nearest first town, Creel.
His love affair with the Sierra Tarahumara began in 1980 when he was studying indigenous music in the United States. A snowstorm prevented him from traveling to an Indian reservation near Arizona’s Grand Canyon – shallower than their Mexican neighbors. Flipping through a copy of National Geographic, Romayne Wheeler was captivated by the photos of the “barranca del cobre” (“the copper ravine”) and decided to discover the Mexican Sierra for himself. “It was like coming home,” he recalls, dressed in a traditional tunic, native sandals on his feet, which he prefers to good old Western-style slippers.
Romayne Wheeler finally settled in 1992 in the village of Retosachi, in tune with the philosophy of the Tarahumaras, which had already fascinated the French poet Antonin Artaud in the 1930s. The musician speaks with emotion of a people “who share everything , which places altruism above all values”. “The people who are most respected here are the musicians. They are entitled to all the honours, like the shamans,” he adds.
The wind carries the notes of his instrument above the gorges of the canyon, his friends tell him. His notes reached the ears of the son of one of his neighbours. Romayne Wheeler began giving him piano lessons, before sending him to complete his training in Chihuahua, capital of the state of the same name. His protege, Romeyno Gutierrez, is now in turn a pianist and a concert performer, who accompanied Wheeler on two tours in Europe. “He is the first pianist and composer bearing Indian heritage that I know on our continent”, declares Romayne Wheeler proudly.
His grand piano – a Steinway – was transported from Guadalajara to the top of the Sierra. The movers took 28 hours to reach the musician’s house along rugged mountain roads, protecting the piano with sacks of potatoes. “We walked at a slow pace most of the time because of the potholes,” recalls Romayne Wheeler.
Despite the isolation of her “eagle’s nest”, Romayne Wheeler never feels alone, between visits from her neighbors and the company of her dog: “I feel more alone in the city, where people have nothing to say to each other”. Moreover, he is the godfather of 42 children in the region, one of the poorest in Mexico. In the Sierra, limited access to drinking water, sufficient food and medical care represent major challenges for communities that live mainly from agriculture.
From the 1990s, Romayne Wheeler decided to devote part of her fees to the construction of a school and a clinic. “He’s a good person. He helps a lot,” says one of his neighbours, Gerardo Gutierrez, 49, who was a child when he met Romayne Wheeler. “He gave blankets when it was cold. And he got food for the people here,” he adds. A fair return for the pianist: “These years have been the happiest of my life because I really feel that my music is useful to help humanity”.