Inspirational: An Orchestra Built on Rubbish
This will not only amaze you but prove that where there are individuals who give a damn, children’s lives can be changed for the better!
2500 families live in Cateura (Paraguay), a slum whose existence is linked to the 1500 tons of rubbish that heads their way daily. A visiting orchestra galvanized interest in the poor children living there but with a “violin costing as much as a house”, dreams seemed hopeless. But Favio Chavez, a local, and garbage picker Nicolás Gómez began experimenting with rubbish as instruments. For example, tin water pipes, buttons, bottle caps, and spoon and fork handles make up the body and keys of the saxophones. Oil or paint cans and recycled wood are used for the string section.”
The result is astounding! The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra is now being invited all over the world. Hopefully the video will inspire people in Knysna to look at what we can do for our poor neighbours.
This is inspiring. And in fact, such ingenuity is practised in all slums of the world, demonstrating the inventiveness, skill, and resilience of poor people everywhere. Just for the information of your blog readers, a few weeks back on my Sunday Evening World Music radio programme, I played a couple of tracks by a band of paraplegic former street kids from Kinshasa who also make their own instruments from rubbish. They are called Staff Benda Bilili (which broadly translated means ‘Look Beyond’). They produce a great African sound. Well, of course! My programme concentrates on music from across the African continent. You can tune in to Knysna 97FM at 6.00pm on Sunday to hear it if you live in the Knysna catchment area. If not, there’s live streaming on http://www.knysnafm.co.za.
Thanks for that share. Here’s a Staff Benda Bilili video so others can enjoy them too: