16-year-old Paraguayan musician Ana Paula García and 14-year-old Martín Callizo performed at the Kids Rock For Kids festival at The Bitter End in Manhattan, New York in September 2026. The event brought together young musicians and gave the Paraguayan duo an opportunity to perform internationally and represent their country on a New York stage.
Kids Rock For Kids is an international youth music festival that brings young musicians from different countries together and places them in bands to perform with one another.
Ana and Martín’s musical beginnings
At around seven years old, Ana Paula’s relationship with music developed. She began taking lessons in singing, guitar and keyboard. “I was really shy, I did not even move on stage,” she recalls in a conversation with The Asunción Times. However, through continued practice, she became more comfortable performing.
Although Ana Paula García and Martín share an interest in heavier music, Ana Paula focuses on vocal ability. Her influences include Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera. “I admire their vocal skills.”
Meanwhile, for Martín, music was also part of his childhood. His parents regularly played music at home, which encouraged him to learn an instrument. “I grew up listening to music because my parents would play music on television every day, especially rock,” he says. “That inspired me to say: I want to play an instrument.”
A chance to perform internationally
The Kids Rock For Kids festival discovered Martín through an Instagram post featuring a video from a show he and Ana Paula performed while they were both at School of Rock Asunción, a Paraguayan music school. The organisation first contacted Martín and later reached out to Ana Paula.
Their final setlist consisted of covers, their own song and an original song by another duo. In addition, Martín and Ana Paula were also working on an original song that was included in their final setlist. “This started as an idea, and I asked Ana if she could help me,” Martín explains. “It ended up becoming a project between the two of us.”
Ana the lyrics, Martín the melodies
Since then, the musicians describe composition as an experiment involving trial and error. Their creative process has since developed into a partnership. Ana Paula writes the lyrics, while Martín creates the melodies and works on the production.
For example, “I sit down with a guitar and start playing,” Martín says. “When I find something I like, I call Ana and ask her to come over. Then we try to compose based on her lyrics and our melody”.
At the same time, the duo does not currently want to limit themselves to a particular genre. Instead, they are experimenting with different sounds and trying to create something distinctive.
A night at The Bitter End
Later, their participation in the festival led to a performance at The Bitter End. Before travelling, Ana Paula had watched videos of the bar and imagined what performing there would be like. “It was much bigger than I imagined,” she says. “It was completely full.”
For Ana Paula, the experience was an important personal milestone. “I felt very happy. I felt complete. A year ago, I never imagined that I would be in that place singing my own music.”
For Martín, the venue had symbolic importance because major musical figures had performed there, including Bob Dylan. However, “I was quite nervous because we had very little time to practice,” he says. “I did the best I could, and it went very, very well.”
Representing Paraguay
For Martín and Ana Paula, travelling to New York meant representing Paraguay through music. Martín also wanted to demonstrate that musicians from Paraguay can achieve important things despite the limited number of large musical opportunities available to them.
“Even though we live in Paraguay, where there are not many big things in terms of music, many things can still be achieved,” he says.
In addition, Ana Paula hopes many more Paraguayan musicians will have the opportunity to participate in Kids Rock For Kids and other international programmes. She had learnt that only three Paraguayans had previously participated in the programme. “I feel that there is a lot of musical talent in Paraguay, and I would love the world to realise that.”
What the future will bring
Looking ahead, they now believe they have found a partnership that works. “We really work very well together,” they say. The pair now plan to continue as a duo, record more original material and eventually release their songs on digital platforms.
Furthermore, their participation in Kids Rock For Kids also allowed them to perform alongside musicians from other countries and gain experience working together in an international setting. Their plans to create and release more original music will allow them to continue developing the musical partnership they began building before the festival.
Also read: Meet Berta Rojas: How Paraguay’s Cherished Guitarist Binds A Continent.
