Sunday, December 23, 2012

Paraguay's "Landfillharmonic" Orchestra


According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, the village of Cateura is a section of the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion that is built "practically on top of the city's main landfill." That misfortune has been turned into opportunity by Favio Chavez, who is "a local ecologist and musician."

Using instruments created from recycled trash Cateura now has a "Landfillharmonic" orchestra. What a fantastic idea!

Photo by Jorge Saenz, Associated Press
I first read about this story in an article in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, however a search of their website turned up only a photo essay, not the article. The story originated in the Associated Press, though, and I found it on NBC World News.

A documentary film is being produced about Favio Chavez and the Landfillharmonic. I recommend checking out the 3-minute trailer for it on You-Tube. Reading the articles was fascinating, but actually listening to even this brief sample of the music itself, was quite moving.

Someone was quoted in the trailer saying that a violin is worth more than the typical house in Cateura, Paraguay. It says volumes about what the society values, doesn't it? And here in the most privileged society on earth all we can think about is cutting taxes by (among other things) cutting the arts from our public schools!

(Having said that, there is at least a smidgeon of good news--unrelated to the arts but related to taxes and funding--about MPS in today's Journal Sentinel: "Residents blame parents, students for MPS failures.")

7 comments:



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