The sound of lives transformed
Recycled Orchestra prepares for Canadian tour
WINNIPEG, MB—The Recycled Orchestra is coming to Canada. Beginning in late April, the children’s orchestra from Cateura, Paraguay, will tour through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
The group was virtually unknown until early 2013, when a documentary film crew made two documentary-teasers about them. The videos went viral and they became an overnight sensation.
“We visited the community about a year ago and started talks with them to see what their needs were,” says Mike Duerksen, director of operations at Global Family Foundation. “The community is a slum, built on top of the capital city’s landfill. It is considered one of the poorest places in South America. People living there carve out an existence by picking through the garbage looking for sellable or recyclable goods.”
Duerksen says Favio Chavez, a local environmental technician, was teaching community children to play music on his own instruments. One of the scavenger fathers tried to build an instrument for his daughter from scrap, and with some help from Chavez, it turned out very well. They kept building and the orchestra was born.
“The idea behind this little school of music was to give children an alternative to [joining gangs] on the streets,” Duerksen explains. “[The documentary videos] put the spotlight on their talents and the orchestra has become something they are very proud of. They are showing the world they have something beautiful to offer.”
The instruments are recycled scrap: drain pipes become trumpets and saxophones, using bottle caps for keys; oil drums are hammered into cellos; dessert tins become guitars.
“We are bringing them to Canada for an educational and fundraising tour,” says Duerksen. “We are raising funds to build a community education centre in Cateura. Investing in education leads to more self-sufficient families, economic growth and helps children break the inherited cycle of generational poverty.”
Several groups will share performances with the Recycled Orchestra, including The Weeds (Waterloo, Ontario), Calvin Dick (Vancouver, BC) and the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra (Abbostsford, BC). In Winnipeg, the orchestra will play with the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute (MBCI) concert band.
Andrew Klassen, MBCI’s music teacher, says his students are ecstatic about the opportunity.
“It will be an eye opener and a very humbling experience, I think. None of us have had an experience like this before, so we are very much looking forward to it. For some students this will be the highlight of their whole year.”
For more information visit www.globalfamilyfoundation.ca.
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