Sunday’s 60 Minutes (11/17) on CBS includes a segment on the Recycled Orchestra from Cateura, Paraguay, where children play instruments constructed from trash. “The story of the Recycled Orchestra first came to the attention of 60 Minutes last year after Paraguayan filmmaker Alejandra Amarilla posted a short film trailer…. She and her collaborators had been filming the orchestra for several years for a documentary.… The 60 Minutes team was there to see one truckload of new instruments arrive for the children…. Unbelievably, the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura is now on tour, performing with big-name musicians in the U.S. and Europe—still performing on their recycled instruments. As for [Paraguayan instrument maker Don] Cola, he continues to make instruments in his workshop by the dump, and he says he finds joy in the fact that the children can soon stop playing on his instruments made from old forks, oven trays, bottle caps, paint cans, and industrial waste: ‘I’m happy because that trash will be replaced by instruments that have real value.’ ”
Posted November 19, 2013
