My friend Iby turned me on to an amazing project in Paraguay.
Very much like Venezuela’s El Sistema and Scola Cantorum, it starts with a group of dedicated people who are reaching out to at-risk communities to provide children with proper schooling as well as access to music. The Paraguayan project, which turns 10 this year, now has approximately 15,000 alumni.
Like other such organizations around the world, they scrape together donations of instruments as well as funds to buy more. But, in a novel twist, Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds of the Earth) also scrapes together scrap to make their own.
Here’s a neat video. You don’t have to understand Spanish to appreciate what’s going on.
John Terauds