“Given the present tensions between Yale and the Government of Peru, this would not be a good time for a visit,” cautioned an authority from outside the University. “I understand the group’s wish to act as goodwill ambassadors, but the timing is just not good.” I was organizing a tour to Peru in March for the Duke’s Men of Yale, an a cappella group in which I sing.

Peru’s government and Yale are not on the best of terms. On December 5, the Peruvian government filed a lawsuit against Yale for “the immediate return” of artifacts from Machu Picchu excavated by Hiram Bingham in 1912. Yale’s Office of Public Affairs responded on December 9 by expressing its disappointment “that the government of Peru has rejected Yale’s offers to negotiate a collaborative agreement and instead decided to sue the University.” Yale added that it would nevertheless defend itself “vigorously” against the suit.

The Duke’s Men left New York for Lima warned to wear our Yale t-shirts only “to the bar at night.” But when we arrived, most Peruvians we met had never heard of Yale or their government’s lawsuit against our university. And most of those who did know thought that, while the artifacts should eventually be returned, their government’s demands were a waste of resources for a country that could not adequately care for the artifacts it already had. The closest reaction to hostility we encountered was at Machu Picchu, when two students asked if we had come to steal more artifacts. They were juniors at the University of Pennsylvania.

The current lawsuit represents a government effort to assert Peruvian sovereignty by rejecting external influence. However, neither the widespread national pride of the Peruvians we met nor the country’s own art and culture support this narrow conception of Peru. “Hanac Pachap,” an iconic Peruvian song, is a Catholic hymn in Quechua, melodically and tonally Andean but structured in Baroque polyphony. An organization in Cusco called “Tesoro Escondido,” or “Hidden Treasure,” holds traditional artistic classes and performances, yet its director, Rodolfo Florez Usseglio, spent four years in the United States and infused the organization with his impression of the American dream. “In Peru, we don’t have the opportunity that you have in

America,” he explained. “But we can use our culture as that opportunity.”

The Duke’s Men gave a master class for Tesoro Escondido’s children’s choir; we finished the lesson by joining them in singing “Hanac Pachap.” We attended one of their folkloric dance theater performances, which followed a young man from his pauper youth to his maturity as a great dancer. The piece highlighted dance from Peru’s diverse regional traditions, and the protagonist concluded: “I was a poor boy. Now I am an artist. Such is the opportunity of culture. Of music, and dance, and art. This is my story. This is my Peru.”

The director of the performance asked us to sing during the intermission. Afterward, she thanked us: “Your performance was so sweet. This performance was about us, our Peru — but yours had the same sweetness.” Her response, and the whole of Tesoro Escondido, stood in sharp contrast to the Peruvian government’s lawsuit: They embodied very different beliefs about external influence in Peru’s cultural heritage, yet both were motivated by patriotism for Peru.

The Peruvians we met, especially artists, felt disconnected from their government’s pugnacity. They found opportunity in collaboration rather than confrontation over Peru’s cultural patrimony. As Yale students and musicians, we were well received in Peru, particularly when we performed Hanac Pachap. As Antonio Paz, director of the National Choir of Peru, told me: “If you’re singing, I don’t think they will say anything [about the lawsuit]. Because once you start singing, it’s a whole new level of communication.”

When we got in our taxis to the airport to leave Peru, a familiar song came on the radio: Aura Lee, the song that all male Yale students sing to audition for the university’s a cappella groups. The tune was in a tecnocumbia song, a popular fusion of American pop and Latin styles, that also quoted Elvis Presley’s “Love me Tender.” It was just one more example of how — regardless of the government’s actions — through Peru’s music, we could be included in its culture.

For more about the Duke's Men of Yale, visit http://www.dukesmen.com/

Micah Hendler is a sophomore Music and International Studies major in Calhoun College. He is the international tour manager of the Duke’s Men of Yale.

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