US pianist dedicates music to indigenous people who inspired him

Pianist and composer Wheeler holds sheet music at his home in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Retosachi, a ranch located in the ejido Munerachi, municipality of Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico. Photo: AFP

Romayne Wheeler sits at his grand piano overlooking Mexico's Copper Canyon and plays music inspired by the mountains and remote Indigenous communities that he now dedicates his life to helping.

The 81-year-old California-born composer no longer lives in the cave where he slept with his solar-powered portable piano after arriving several decades ago in the Sierra Tarahumara in northwestern Mexico.