A musical use for trash

Favio Chávez, a technician at a Paraguayan landfill site, formed the the Cateura Orchestra of Recycled Instruments: an orchestra comprising of the children of landfill works. The orchestra was designed to encourage musical education in an low socio-economic area. A violin would hold more value than a landfill worker’s house. However, by creating instruments out of trash, Favio Chávez was able to offer instruments to a wide range of children to create music with. The orchestra has now toured internationally.

Instruments include a violin made out of metal oven trays, cello made out of oil barrels, and a guitar made out of a can which used to contain dessert. Aida, 14, plays an violin made out of an oil paint tin. “I don’t care that my violin is made out of recycled parts,” she says. “To me, it’s a treasure.”

Jonathan Gilbert, “Paraguayan landfill orchestra makes sweet music from rubbish”, The Guardian, 26 April 2013.

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