Sounds of hope from Paraguay dump

Alfonso Daniels via a kind reader's email:

Suddenly the sound of violins playing Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks breaks the sound of stray dogs' barking and rubbish trucks, taking the visitor to the streets of any European city like Prague or Vienna.

This is Cateura, the main rubbish dump of Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, where the conductor of the country's symphony orchestra, Luis Szaran, has established a music school.

"I came here once and saw a woman holding a newborn child with one hand and picking up rubbish with the other, and told myself this could not go on, this is how everything started," recalls Mr Szaran, who is of Hungarian and Polish origin.

He launched the Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds of the Land) initiative six years ago to bring classical and folkloric music to the poorest children with the help of the Swiss non-governmental organisation,

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 27, 2008 4:33 AM
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