- Lebanese schools organized "trash orchestras" to raise awareness of waste management
- Young students made instruments out of waste and played famous Arabic songs
- They used plastic buckets and glass bottles to create the music
- The aim was to come up with innovative ways through art and culture to deal with the trash crisis
Few people can say they have played “Bint al-Shalabiya” using plastic and glass bottles, but the kids from the Salma al-Sayegh school in Beirut’s Ashrafieh can happily boast of that achievement.
One group of kids, all aged around 10 years old and each armed with their own piece of “junk,” played the intro to the well-known Fairouz song in Hamra’s Al-Madina Theater Tuesday, carefully guided by the conductor who had taught them their parts.
This was one of the “trash orchestras” put together by Red Oak, an NGO that aims foster new ideas and solutions for global issues through education, art and culture.
“We want to promote innovative ideas, focusing on the environment, through art and the performing arts, to raise awareness of waste management issues for youth,” Nadine Abou Zaki, founder of Red Oak, said.
Playing instruments made of trash had been intended to demonstrate to the kids that there’s more to a big empty water bottle than the space it takes up in your garbage bag. And it worked, Abou Zaki said.
“We could see the impact of this project on the kids – now they don’t look at trash in the same way, they value the things they would usually throw away. They know they can make something out of what they [usually] throw [out].”
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The concert was the culmination of three months of work that had taken place in seven different Beirut schools. Each school eventually produced one “trash orchestra.”
Besides learning to play songs such as “Helwa Ya Balady” by Egyptian singer Dalida, on discarded plastic buckets, the kids also created murals out of plastic bottles and cardboard tubes, which now adorn the walls of their playgrounds.
Following Tuesday’s concert, there was a ceremony to award the title of “Best Mural” – a competition that was “very hard” to judge, according to the jury, led by Abou Zaki.
She assured the crowd that even though only one school could win that title, all of the kids were winners. Indeed, seven different awards were given out, including “Best Concept” and “Best Use of Color,” with each school taking a prize home.
When the children had celebrated their victories, the professional music group Walkabout Drum Circle performed some of their West African inspired drum rhythms, which sparked a small dance party in one section of the theater’s seating. When the drum circle called the kids on the stage, the whole audience joined in, with the children leading the party.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
