Reggae is taught at school!

Showing music to underprivileged children and teenagers is a great challenge. Encouraging them to try to transform this condition is just one more of reggae artist João Terra's goals. With five recorded albums and a vast history of shows throughout Brazil, João uses all this experience to fulfill it by doing his best to help these young people. He is currently developing a major project. The musician, an icon in National Reggae, makes all his musical knowledge available to dozens of students who receive free daily guitar lessons. For those who know João Terra, it was like combining the useful with the pleasant. The project, conceived by himself, gained approval from the city government of São Paulo last year, with classes held at Clube da Cidade Vila Brasilândia, in the Freguesia do Ó region, where João Terra lives and helped shape the cultural history. Students receive theoretical and practical lessons, and here's the detail: you don't need to have a guitar! Right there at the club, the then "Professor" makes instruments available for students to practice. The main concern is not just teaching some musical notes, but getting young people off the streets, at least for part of the day. "With a little experience at parties and Reggae performances, always in peripheral neighborhoods, I was able to confirm that the most underprivileged young people identify with and are the audience of Reggae Music, because of its essence and politicized message... That's why I'm so sure of the success of this project," he says. The classes are always full and each student's progress is evident. Today, walking through the streets of the same neighborhood, it's easy to see a house backyard serving as a space for band rehearsals, or even seeing João's students playing at Praça Nossa Senhora do Ó (matriz), a reference in the region and a stage that receives João Terra with great pride. João's commitment is this: to practice in everyday life what his compositions say, to carry the message and make it real. It's getting young people off the streets by occupying and encouraging them, showing students that it's possible to transform reality, and that interfering in the system means defending society by making it respectful, and in a very clear way: with social awareness.

PROJECT INFORMATION

João Terra & Banda Email: allafrik@ig.com.br Clube da Cidade Vila Brasilândia Address: Av. Michihisa Murata, 120 - Vila Brasilândia ZIP: 02806-160 Phone: (11) 3975-0700