Above is a teaser trailer for the documentary Landfill Harmonic, about “Los Reciclados,” or “The Recycled Orchestra,” part of a youth music program in Paraguay. Los Reciclados are from Cateura, a poor city that houses “the final dumping site for more than 1,500 tons of solid waste each day.” Alejandra Nash and Juliana Penaranda-Loftus have been working on the movie for the last two years, following three members of the orchestra in particular.
If you do not lose it a little when 19-year-old Juan Manuel Chavez starts playing Bach’s Cello Suite no. 1 on an instrument “made from an oil can, and wood that was thrown away in the garbage,” then you are made of sterner stuff than I.
You can learn more about the movie on its Facebook page, and more about the music program, Sonidas de la Tierra, at its website.
