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Waste Meets Music with the Paraguay Recycled Instruments Orchestra
With this orchestra, children can stay clear of dangerous machines, dirt and other threats found near local rubbish heaps.
1 Min Read
The Paraguay Recycled Instruments Orchestra, which is comprised of hundreds of children and musical instruments made out of waste materials, was conceived in 2006 when Paraguayan musician and environmental technician Favio Chávez decided to do something about the bad reputation that the neighborhood of Cateura was receiving for its poverty and closeness to the Asunción municipal dump.
In Cateura, many parents work on the rubbish heaps and children are often left to entertain themselves. With this orchestra, children can stay clear of dangerous machines, dirt and other threats while learning to create music and express their artistic side.
Equal Times has more information:
Through the waste at a landfill site in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Asunción, Paraguay, hundreds of children walk with musical instruments, small and large, on their backs. The black cases do not hide a Stradivarius or a cello made from precious woods, but rather violins, guitars, flutes, saxophones and even a double bass made from coins, bits of pipe, plastic, tin cans and the remains of donated instruments.
Their proud owners are members of the Paraguay Recycled Instruments Orchestra, a group of children and young people that grew up in Cateura, a neighbourhood looked down on for its poverty and its closeness to the Asunción municipal dump.
The project was dreamt up in 2006 by the Paraguayan musician and environmental technician Favio Chávez, who has transformed his community through music, his commitment and that of his pupils.
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