A Rio de Janeiro orchestra comprising young musicians from a violent slum in Brazil's Mare will perform in Lisbon during Pope Francis' visit to Portugal
Created in 2010, the"Mare do Amanha" orchestra is the brainchild of Carlos Prazeres and his father, Armando, a musical conductor who was kidnapped and killed in 1999. His bloodstained car was found in Mare.
Instead of turning his grief into hatred, Prazeres decided to use music to get children off the streets and away from drug dealing. To this date, Mare do Amanha has taught 3,500 children."It's something wonderful to feel fulfilled, seeing where we came from and where we are now," said Santos, who joined the project as a 9-year-old, and is the student of Ana Beatriz Sousa, also a violinist from Mare, who is 24.
Sousa, who also studies theology at university, said that inspiring other young people to follow in the orchestra's footsteps keeps her going." to realise that I can go further, I can be more than what society says I am." Sousa was part of the orchestra group that met Francis in the Vatican in 2017, an experience she will never forget.
In Portugal, they are putting on several concerts and flashmobs to mark the Catholic event, which will bring together more than a million pilgrims.
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