Paraguayan youths leave seed in Bolivia with instruments made of garbage

By Yolanda Salazar

“The world sends us garbage; we send it back music,” is the motto of Paraguay’s Cateura Recycled Instruments Orchestra, which arrived in Bolivia to sow “a seed” and encourage young people to make their own violins and drums from recycled materials.

Some 45 young people who make up the orchestra live near landfills in Paraguay and are at “risk of exclusion” but found a refuge in music and recycling, the orchestra’s director, Favio Chávez, told EFE.

What people see as garbage they see as a useful part to create instruments that bring other kids closer to “dreaming,” he adds.

“In my community there are dumps and since I am a member of this orchestra, any tin can I see I know I can use to invent an instrument, I already have that in my heart,” 19-year-old Matías Rojas, who plays the harp, told EFE.

For the first time these young Paraguayans will give a series of concerts in Bolivia with their peculiar instruments made of wood, cans, lids, pipes, spoons and buckets that they collected from a landfill in Asunción to give them a “second chance” by turning them into violins, double basses and drums.

“Music changes people (…) music brings them many values that perhaps they do not have in their environment, such as responsibility, sensitivity, commitment, tolerance, which are developed when music is made together and that change, even if it is gradual, ends up being noticed in people,” said Chávez.

For her part, Paraguay’s ambassador to Bolivia, Terumi Matsuo de Claverol, told EFE the importance of showing young people that “with a little ingenuity,” great things can be achieved and that they can also contribute to caring for the environment.

THE EXPERIENCE

The young musicians showed their instruments to the students of the Copacabana Educational Unit in a workshop in La Paz so they could see that it is possible to turn garbage into art and sounds, so they encouraged them to learn and create their own devices.

“I was surprised; it’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen instruments with recycled material; it’s very nice, it’s been a good experience,” Bolivian student Jhosue Poma told EFE.

The students used recycled wood, cans, bottle caps, and unused buckets as raw materials for their creations, which were guided by the entire team, especially William López, who is one of the people in charge of making the hundreds of instruments for the orchestra.

The young people from both countries transformed buckets and lids into tambourines, used recycled wood and old x-rays to make drums, shaped pallet wood to create a violin, and even dared to make part of a cello.

After giving free rein to their imagination, they put the new instruments to the test by sharing a moment of music.

“Now they have realized that gigantic things can be made with what they had in their hands,” Lopez tells EFE.

CONCERT IN A LANDFILL

As part of its activities, the orchestra also performed at the Saka Churu municipal landfill in La Paz.

The workers who collected the waste participated and, in addition to enjoying the music, were able to be part of the recital at some point.

They were all amazed to see the instruments and listen to modern and traditional Paraguayan songs, motivating them even to dance.

Bolivia is the 51st country visited by this peculiar Paraguayan orchestra, highlighting that a concert is given in a landfill, something unprecedented in the country.

With information from EFE