Roma teen, Cristina Vazquez, who grew up in a Madrid shantytown, is the first violinist in a creative orchestra along with two dozen other disadvantaged youths who play on instruments made from recycled materials.

Vasquez’s violin is made from colorful soda cans. Other instruments in the orchestra include a string bass made from a skateboard and drums from plastic barrels.

The  "Music of Recycling" project brings unwanted junk back to life and makes disadvantaged youths’ lives better.

"I am really happy because it has changed my life a lot," 18-year-old Vazquez, who teaches youngsters today using these inventive instruments, said excitingly. 

"I don't know if I will become a professional musician... but I want to keep giving classes to young children,” said Vazquez, adding that "it fills you with pride when a young girl comes up to you and says: 'When I grow up I want to be like you.'"

The Spanish teenager was a little hesitant when she joined the orchestra at the age of 12. It was then part of the curriculum at her school in the southern district of Vallecas, one of Madrid's poorest neighborhoods.

Music of Recycling

The project is inspired by Paraguay's Cateura orchestra - consisting of musicians from a slum who play instruments made from materials found in a rubbish dump.

It is run today by Ecoembes, a Spanish environmental group, who invited the Cateura orchestra to perform in Madrid in 2014 and consequently decided to initiate its own similar group, according to Víctor Gil, Music of Recycling’s Director.

"Why not here? We have social and economic problems," he said.

In their first concert, "the kids could not play more than four notes," said Gil.

However, after playing in several cities across Spain, the group now has “four boys studying in scholarships at music schools and public conservatories," he added.

The pandemic stopped the group’s concerts temporarily; one was planned to be shown in Madrid last Thursday and was canceled at the last minute due to the rising COVID-19 infections in the country.

In the meantime, more than 100 children are spending their time taking music classes from the orchestra’s members as part of the project.

Who created the instruments?

Luthier Fernando Soler, a third-generation instrument maker, created these innovative instruments using junk materials like cans, cutlery, wooden boxes, and parts of discarded instruments.

Soler noted that he tries to make the instruments as similar as possible to their "normal" shape so the kids find it easy to play regular equipment in the future.

Soler hopes he can restart creating instruments soon, saying his dream is to see one of his students become "the luthier of recycling of the future."