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Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 2:57 am
by Ahso!
...the Music Will Bring Tears to Your Eyes.

Close your eyes and listen to Juan Manuel Chavez launch into the Prelude of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, and you would never guess that, instead of spruce and maple, his instrument is crafted from an old oil can, a beef tenderizing tool, and a discarded pasta making device—all of it scavenged from the landfill that surrounds his home in Paraguay.

Chavez is a cellist in the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra in Cateura, an Asunción slum where bottle caps, door keys, and paint cans have been given new purpose. Under the supervision of local musician Favio Chávez, these utterly impoverished kids make beautiful music on instruments constructed almost entirely out of materials reclaimed from the dump.




Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but the Music Will Bring Tears to Your Eyes | Mother Jones

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 8:26 am
by Wandrin
Wow! Now that's recycling!

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 9:30 am
by Ahso!
I'd say! Young people are so innovative. I doubt these kids have much of an understanding of their economic condition, especially if that's all they've known. When I learn of stories like this I'm forced to realize it's not competition as I've been raised to define the term that drives innovation, imagination does that, which isn't necessarily dependent on a capitalism. People create in productive and non-productive ways all the time and that isn't exclusive to any economic model. Rather, it's a consequence of the formation of the human brain, it's what it does.

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 10:34 am
by Snowfire
Very, very impressive.

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:02 pm
by gmc
Have you heard of el sistema?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sistema

They seem to have sparked off a world wide movement

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:03 pm
by Patsy Warnick
Very cool - inspiring

reminds me of Louisiana where a old wash board is a instrument

and the band plays on....

Patsy

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:35 pm
by Bruv
It just shows the difference between cost and value?

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:33 pm
by Accountable
Well said, Bruv.

Beautiful music can come from anywhere. Thanks for the find, Ahso.

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:45 pm
by Lady J
:yh_clap:yh_clap

It is wonderful to see creativity at work and for it too sound so beautiful is a huge plus.

Kudos to them.

Their Instruments May Be Garbage, but...

Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:55 am
by AnneBoleyn
So very cool! Another feather in Mother Jones cap! The musicians are so talented! Wonderful Ahso! thanks so much!