ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Romayne "El Illuminado" Wheeler (St. Helena, California, United States, 1942) is an American piano concert, composer and researcher, known for his life and work with the Tarahumara people, in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Although born in California, Wheeler has lived in several parts of the world, initially because of his father's work and then because of his own career as a pianist. In 1980, Wheeler became interested in the Sierra Tarahumara and its people, due to the photos in National Geographic magazine. He devoted months of that year to studying the music and dance of the Tarahumaras, and in 1992 he decided to live in this remote area permanently, bringing his piano with him. Wheeler is still an active musician, doing tours in part of the year. Most of their income is used to support the Tarahumara.

Life
Wheeler was born in 1942 in St. Helena. However, he was only there until his age as he was born in a family that was constantly moving. His father worked at the United Nations (FAO) and was a missionary of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which would give him experience with Latin American and indigenous communities in Arizona when Wheeler was very young. Wheeler lived in Mexico and was in the Dominican Republic during his adolescence. He also lived 32 years in Austria.

Wheeler began playing the piano since his childhood, being his first Latin American influences, especially from the Dominican Republic.

His parents sent him to study high school in Arizona, which he would end up in Monterey, California. In 1961, he went to Austria to study full-time music, taking approximately twelve years to obtain his title as a composer in 1968 from the University of Music of Vienna and his title as a piano concertist in 1972 from the Vienna Conservatory of Music.

Career
He is a composer, poet, painter, musicologist and writer. Since 1968 it has been presented in 51 countries including Austria, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, England, France, Serbia, Slovenia, Greece, Crete, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Libya, Thailand, Nepal, Taiwan, China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Peru and the United States. These presentations include large concert rooms in Europe and the Americas. He also makes regular appearances in Vienna.

As a visual artist, Wheeler paints and draws, using the same calligraphy pens he uses to write music. His works have come to exhibitions, which have usually been combined with a concert.

He remains active as a concert and composer and is known to dedicate his musical career to helping the indigenous residents of the Sierra Tarahumara.

Life in the Sierra Tarahumara
In the 1970s, Wheeler decided to return to the United States to study indigenous music and dance, especially that of the Hopi, the Navajo and the Pima in Arizona. In 1980, he was unable to go to the Hopi communities near the Grand Canyon by a window, and was forced to