The Municipal Theater of Asunción was the stage, in recent days, for an experience that transcended the musical plane: the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with its famous final chorus — the 'Ode to Joy' — sung in Guaraní. Under the name Háa vy'avete, the project brought together the National Congress Symphony Orchestra (OSIC), more than a hundred choral voices, and soloists, under the direction of conductor Diego Sánchez Haase.
The initiative, conceived by Fernando Robles and developed in partnership with anthropologist Cristóbal Ortiz — who died before seeing the work completed — combined colloquial Guaraní with words from Mbya, one of the six variants of the Guaraní language family. The translation of Friedrich Schiller's text was metrically adapted by Robles, and conductor Nicolás Ramírez Salaberry adjusted the syllables to Beethoven's original score.
In an interview, Sánchez Haase highlighted the symbolic impact of seeing an indigenous language of South America dialogue with one of the capital works of the European symphonic repertoire. “Music is the reflection of the language spoken by a region and a composer,” he said. “The abundance of consonants in German influences articulation; in Guaraní, the sonority is different.”
The conductor noted that upon hearing the first verses in Guaraní, he noticed a change in character: “In German, the bass gives an order to friends to stop listening to dissonant sounds; in Guaraní, it seems he asks, more softly, that sweeter melodies be heard.” For him, this convergence strengthens the message of universal brotherhood of the Ninth Symphony.
The project received partial funding from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONDEC) and support from the Delegation of the European Union in Paraguay, as well as the companies Tecinci, Hotel Cecilia, and Bohéme Flores. Sánchez Haase described the experience as “transcendental” for the dissemination of Guaraní in one of the most demanding territories of universal music.