A garbage picker named Nicolás Gómez (known as
“Cola”) found a piece of trash that resembled a violin and brought it to
musician Favio Chávez. Using other
objects collected from the dump, the pair constructed a functional violin in a
place where a real violin is worth more a house. Using items gleaned completely from the dump,
the pair then built a cello, a flute, a drum, and suddenly had a wild idea:
could a children’s orchestra be born in one of the most depressed areas in the
world? As you can guess, the answer was
yes.”
- Colossal (Online): April 2013
The
Recycled Orchestra of Cateura gave people a purpose, a hope for a better
future. It taught children about music
and inflamed a passion in them that they didn’t know they had. It became an international success, playing
all over the world and touring with some of the biggest bands and orchestras
from every nation. What started out as a
hair-brained idea, turned into one of the most innovative ideas to ever
revolutionize the music industry. It paired
cast-off garbage with cast-off children to form something beautiful. It also inspired a documentary called “Landfill
Harmonic,” which was released in 2015.
“There
were a lot of drugs, alcohol, violence, child labor – a lot of situations that
you wouldn’t think are favorable for kids to learn values. However, they have a spot in the orchestra.
“Like
an island within the community, a place where they can develop these values.
“We’ve
seen cases where parents with addiction problems have quit taking drugs to go
to their kid’s concerts. And in a lot
cases, the parents have gone back to finish school because their kids are being
seen all over and they think, ‘They are going forward. I want to, as well.’
“They
are not only changing their lives but the lives of their families and their
community.”
-
Favio Chavez, Orchestra Director
