Can we bring them to a music school in Portugal where they will be safe and free to play and study music? Perhaps the Gulbenkian Foundation can help support them.
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Welcomed news, recognizing young artists as the human beings they are as they face stark realities of violence, fear, and racism. Well done. Thank you.
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May they live long and prosper.
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yes how can we contribute to a fund for these amazing souls?
this story ought to lead the evening news to remind us of grace, beauty and how against odds, most people are amazing beings of great light.
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@SRF If you do a web search for the Orquestra da Rua in Rio de Janeiro, you can find their facebook page.
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Such an inspiration! Proud to be Brazilian!
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What an inspiring heart warming story. We need more of this and less of Trump.
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Too bad I haven't a clue how to start a "go fund me" for these young people to get the instruments they want; sure would be nice to give that young man his new cello.
Gift of beautiful music gives us hope in a turbulent world.
Thanks for sharing this beautiful story.
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Extraordinary people doing wonderful things! Praise is not enough! Brava!
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“a city known for samba”? I wonder how old the author of the article is, or whether the research for the article relied on an old World Book Encyclopedia. Not so easy these days to find samba in Rio. Maybe during Carnavão, or the one night a week it’s played in a dwindling number of clubs. It’d be nice if samba were what sprang to mind at the mention of Rio de Janeiro. Verdade.
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@David Morris
Actually, samba is alive and well in Rio, and not just during Carnaval: all year long. And there's room for the classical music these young people are playing if the new government will open its hard heart to give them a helping hand to realize their dreams.
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@David Morris
Maybe, blame it on the bossa nova?
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Absolutely there’s room for classical music snd agreed about the hard heart of Bolsonero’s government.
Love it... Play on!!!!
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Beautiful story, wishing them success!
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Very inspiring story!
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This is truly fabulous.
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It is so refreshing to read stories like this and knowing there are 4 more good people in the world.
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I lived in Rio for 2.5 years. The challenges and sacrifices young artists like these musicians face to learn and practice their craft is well beyond what most Americans will ever experience. The contribution they make in terms of bridging the chasm between the privileged and those with practically nothing is a priceless societal contribution.
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It is important for these kids and all kids to just be able to listen to something.
I pity the youth of today with their music. It was ruined by MTV. Music videos make what you are seeing more important than what you are listening to. It is full of violence and sex, and has no soul.
Of course my mother thought that about the Rolling Stones - but there was no lip syncing, and the bands were, for the most part, playing music that they had created. They were contributing something instead of just trying to fake it.
I played the cello in college at a conservatory type school. Instruments like the cello and violin take patience to learn and to make them sound like something. Kids don't have patience now. They expect to push a key or click a mouse and have the world come rushing onto the screen, providing them with a dopamine rush and immediate gratification.
What you are writing about here is so unusual and special. It is defying the general downward trend of how we exist.
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@Gerry Ha...we all become our parents! But seriously, there is good modern stuff if you dig a little deeper. For instance, the NPR Tiny Desk Concerts often feature lesser known extraordinary musicians playing live and their appearances often launch their careers. For example, I found Andra Day and St. Paul and the Broken Bones through them. There are still kids playing classical as well: my nearby library often hosts them on weekends. The kids are all right.
I do hope someone reads this and donates money or instruments to their program or even one nearby. When I was young, I loved playing the piano at the community center but my parents could not afford one so I wasn't really able to advance much or quickly. It's one of those things they truly regret even decades later. It's something I'm working up to now that my financial situation is more comfortable: donating a piano to a child.
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@Gerry
And did you also walk 10 miles to school, uphill both ways, in the snow, winter and summer, barefoot? I tell my kids that and they laugh!
No lip-synching in our day? What, are you kidding me? EVERYONE lip-synched on American Bandstand (and I suspect Soul Train as well)! Everyone, and there's plenty of YouTube videos to prove it. Only Ed Sullivan and the Tonight Show insisted on actual performances (Later, so did SNL). I remember seeing "Blondie" lip-synching on Mike Douglas in the 1970s.
And there are some amazing young voices out there today, from Pentatonix, to Adele and many, many others. Lady Gaga has proven time and time again that she's a consummate talent gifted with a golden voice beyond the kooky dresses and stage shows.
And MTV's got to be 35-40 years old.
But this quartet is following in a long tradition. Busking has been a New York tradition going back as long as I can remember, classical as well as popular.
The great be-bop jazz drummer, Max Roach's daughter, Maxine Roach is a classical violist and was a member of The Uptown String Quartet.
Instead of "Get off my lawn!", why not praise these fine young people?
(BTW, I'm 64, not a kid either)
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@ms What a great comment, and like you, I adore the music features on NPR including Tiny Desk Concerts. Theirs is one place I discover music that is both new to me and excellent. As an aging American, not wealthy by any means but comfortable, I also love donating small contributions to the causes that engage me. Even a small gift can sometimes make an enormous difference in the lives of others.
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Music and beauty are universal languages that can unite us all.
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Wonderful to see such musical courage. Like the 'cello of Sarajavo. Musical Missions for Peace is another organization that plays and teaches Arabic refugees in the Middle east. Check it out.
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Wonderful story. I always enjoy learning about other people who perform classical music. Here's another story about people I'd like to help. Like the story about the girls at the school in Afghanistan; if only we could help individuals rather than just give donations to organizations.
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