BRAZIL: Born into poverty, David Rocha learned how to make instruments from wood and scraps he picks up in garbage dumps

Record ID: 1519652

  • Title: BRAZIL: Born into poverty, David Rocha learned how to make instruments from wood and scraps he picks up in garbage dumps
  • Date: 10th June 2011
  • Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MUSICIAN DAVID ROCHA PLAYING VIOLIN MADE FROM REUSED WOOD OVER GARBAGE DUMP BIRDS ON WALL NEXT TO DUMP VARIOUS OF ROCHA PLAYING VIOLIN OVER DUMP DOG SCRAMBLING THROUGH TRASH WHILE ROCHA PLAYS VARIOUS OF ROCHA PLAYING VIOLIN AND WOMAN WATCHING HIM FROM WINDOW THAT OVERLOOKS DUMP
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2011 21:29
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil, Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAAELD8NEGP77R1ISI9OV0DMTIW
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The drawers from an old closet found at a garbage dump are now a violin which David Rocha uses to play symphonies by Bach and Beethoven.
    Although the noisy slum in the poor outskirts of Brazil's biggest city does not match the classical tunes played by this 20-year-old luthier, there is where it all began.
    While Rocha's dream of becoming a professional violinist had always seemed far-fetched, making his own instruments was even more so.
    Earning a minimum wage (around $300 dollars), his mother only managed to buy him a small guitar when he was ten. At the age of 16, Rocha said he began playing the violin at an evangelical church near his home and saved enough money to get himself a second-hand instrument.
    "Since my mother bought me my first guitar and I learned how to play it, I've always wanted to play the violin, but I didn't have one. Later I went to the Assembly of God church and there I learned how to read music. Later I went to another church where I learned how to play the violin and with a lot of effort I managed to buy my first violin, but I really wanted to make my own," he said.
    But his real dream only came true two years later, when Rocha found out about a free instrument crafting workshop in his community's social center. There, he learned all about becoming a luthier - someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments.
    What his instructors never expected was that their new student would teach them an even more valuable lesson. With no money to buy good-quality wood, Rocha began picking up pieces of old furniture and scraps from garbage dumps near his home.
    Today, Rocha's idea has spread through most of the center's students and increased the selling price of the instruments which are now considered eco-friendly.
    The workshop's teacher, luthier Fabio Vanini, said Rocha's initiative was welcomed by all of his students and buyers.
    "I know that in the beginning they (students) have a hard time buying wood and the rest of the materials. So with this (recycling), they manage to take a bigger step and also have the advantage of reusing materials that would be burned down or forgotten and that now have a very valuable end," he said.
    Rocha and other apprentices make a living from their hand-made instruments, which, depending on the model and material may cost up to $500 dollars.
    Because of his talent and contribution, Rocha became an instructor at the center and receives a $280-dollar monthly payment from the Tide Setubal foundation, responsible for this and other cultural projects throughout the country.
    Inacio dos Santos, who runs the cultural center at Rocha's community, said many of the instruments are also kept at the institution for music lessons. He said buying instruments of such quality would be too expensive for the students.
    "They are of better quality than the instruments they (students) would be able to buy in stores, which are instruments made from low-quality wood that is inappropriate for crafting musical instruments. So, at the same time that they manage to reuse wood they find themselves, they also build instruments that have better sound quality and which also contribute to the cultural and musical productions in the community," he said.
    Driving by a dump near Rocha's home, he lets out an excited shout and asks the car to stop. He believes to have spotted a great piece of wood in a pile of construction rubble.
    To tell the "good" wood from the "bad", Rocha makes small cracks on them to check for texture and smell.
    He says he loves hunting for wood as much as he enjoys working on it later.
    "I feel very honored to be able to help the environment and nature and also pass on to other people through these news stories the work that I've managed to carry out with wood I found in street dumps and transformed into art," he said.
    Rocha hopes to be able to someday show off his talent at Sao Paulo's famous concert house where many of the world's top orchestras have played.
    Meanwhile, he is happy enough playing for his family and neighbors in the community of Sao Miguel.
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