Reflections on Landfill Harmonic

On Friday February 12, 2016, Phase II was invited to the opening night of the Providence Children’s Film Festival at the RISD Museum. Phase III was given the opportunity to open the event with the piece Drowning By Numbers by Michael Nyman. The directors of the program introduced the main purpose of the Providence Children’s Film Festival and also expressed how happy they were to be a part of it.

Following these presentations they showed the film Landfill Harmonic. This film is about a musical project that started in Paraguay.  The children in the story come from a town named Cateura. They live in very harsh conditions next to the main landfill of one of the major cities in Paraguay,  and their houses are not the best places to live in. These children are given the opportunity to play music on instruments made from recycled materials scavenged and forged together by one of the members of the community. In short the film tells the story about how this “Recycled Orchestra” becomes famous in the world, and they share their story.

The film gives the message that art and/or music are a basic human need. I agree with that because without music or any art life would be pretty dull. The arts are something that make each person unique, and they bring us together. I think CMW is contributing in spreading this message. CMW is also giving the opportunity to lots of children in the community to learn how to play classical music and to be able to appreciate arts in the community.

I very much enjoyed the film and the event. I found it to be a great connection to the work Community Music Works is doing in Providence.

–Jessenia Grijalva, Phase II student and CMW board member