What started as a grassroots initiative in Vancouver has blossomed into an international effort to fund a youth orchestra based out of a landfill in Cateura, Paraguay.
Three years ago, members of the initiative, called Instruments Beyond Borders, told the Courier their long-term goal was to bring the Recycled Orchestra to Vancouver to perform. The orchestra toured Vancouver last year to sold out shows and this week it’s coming for a second time.
The group will perform at various venues throughout the city, including this weekend at the Musical Bridges Benefit Concert at the Playhouse and the Museum of Anthropology in UBC.
Instruments Beyond Borders, formerly Instruments of Change, was formed in 2013 to raise money and collect used instruments for the youth group in Cateura, which uses recycled cans, utensils, pop lids, and other scraps found in the landfill to make their instruments.
“We are a group of friends and volunteers who are dedicating our best energy to collect and restore used instruments that people here aren’t using,” said Alejandro Rojas, one of the founding members of Instruments Beyond Borders.
“All of these efforts are part of a larger energy forming all over the world, which the children of the orchestra are generating and perpetuating with their own talents. We are just a humble component of this global movement.”
So far, Instruments Beyond Borders has raised $50,000 in donated instruments and funds, which is footing the bill for the Recycled Orchestra’s music school in Cateura that’s currently under construction. The organization recently obtained charity status, Rojas said, which should increase financial incentive for supporters. It also means Instruments Beyond Borders can act as an international ambassador for the cause.
The school currently has 300 students, with the majority of its members in elementary and secondary school and a few in university. The touring group will consist of 10 members and the director, Favio Chávez. While the orchestra commits to playing with the recycled instruments, the new and donated instruments will be used in the school.
The Recycled Orchestra has brought more than just music to its members. For eight-year-old Celeste Fleitas, touring with the orchestra gave her the chance to meet her grandmother. “In Spain,” she wrote in a translated email. “I met my grandmother for the first time in my life and this was a beautiful experience.”
Celeste has been playing the violin since she was five. “My violin is made out of a roasting pan, and the front is made out of a paint can, the middle part and the top part are made out of a pallet, the bottom part is made out of a fork,” she said.
All the funds raised through Instruments Beyond Borders go right back to the kids, Rojas said, to build the school and pay for some of the kids’ medical and dental bills. The landfill is situated near the Paraguay River, which is overflowing with pollutants, according to Rojas who is also a professor of land and food systems at UBC, specializing in sustainability, water conflicts and social movements.
“The school will be a safe haven for the kids and a place of support and refuge from the environmental devastation,” he said.
Rojas said the rewards for this tour are two-fold. “It gives the Recycled Orchestra and Instruments Beyond Borders international exposure, but it also sends a message to affluent countries that poverty and environmental conflicts can be addressed through creativity,” he said.
Instruments Beyond Borders has inspired other groups with similar aims in Turkey, Spain, Venezuela and Brazil.
The Cateura group offers an inspiring narrative of the impact music and creativity can have on a community.
Instruments Beyond Borders plans to continue to expand its growing network on the West Coast, building on its relationships with the Saint James Music Academy, the Latino community in Vancouver and Tapestry Music on West Broadway.
The Musical Bridges benefit concert is May 29, 7 p.m. at the Playhouse Theatre. Tickets are $40 or $25 for students. The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura will also perform at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, May 30, 7 p.m. Tickets for this performance are $10 and $5 for students. The group is also playing at various schools, including Vancouver Technical secondary School, Killarney secondary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Vancouver College.
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