A microcosm of music: in the remote tropical flatlands of eastern Bolivia, one sound may come as a particular surprise--the melody of violins.

• Author: Busque, Jordi

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An area of eastern Bolivia surrounded by tropical forests is home to peoples who share an unexpected cultural heritage. Tiffs vast region in the department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra--made up of the provinces of Chiquitania and Guarayos--looks very different from the image most outsiders have of Bolivia. This is not the Andes, but an immense stretch of low-altitude llanos, covered by a dense canopy of so-called dry tropical forests and crossed by plentiful rivers that form part of the southern extreme of the Amazon Basin. The biodiversity of this place is extraordinary; close to its villages, the multicolored beaks of toucans can be seen in the treetops. Not too far away, jaguars--the "tigers" of South America--feed on abundant tapirs, peccaries, and capybaras, and sometimes hunt caimans and anacondas.

The cultural richness of the region's human inhabitants, it turns out, is comparable to all this natural exuberance, though it comes as a much greater surprise. In the villages where the residents of this area live, the houses are made of adobe with palm-thatched roofs. Most people have no electricity, and hardly anyone has a telephone. The streets around these houses are filled with the sounds of chickens, ducks, and other animals that cackle, quack, and grunt. In the midst of the cacophony, the sound of a violin floats through the air--a boy or girl is practicing. And soon it becomes clear that tiffs is not an isolated case. The sound of musical instruments can be heard at some point during the day from practically every house where there are children. Just what is going on?

To understand this phenomenon, it helps to get a sense of its roots, going back to the end of the seventeenth century, when Europeans' maps still had vast blank spaces--a golden age for explorers, with wide-open opportunities for discovery. On September 2, 1691, two Jesuit priests--Father Jose de Arce and Brother Antonio de Ribas--headed an expedition in the company of two indigenous guides, and left Santa Cruz de la Sierra heading toward the northeast. The governor of Santa Cruz, Agustin de Arce, had induced them to help bring an end to the enslavement of the area's indigenous populations. The priests headed off to lands full of wild animals and un-known diseases, with the intention of evangelizing the locals and bringing civilization to the region. Their first contact was with the Pinoca people, who were suffering from a terrible epidemic. The Jesuits' knowledge of medicine assured them a warm welcome and an invitation to settle there. The missionaries interpreted that request as a sign from above and founded the settlement of San Francisco Xavier. It was December 31, 1691, the beginning of what would come to be known as...