Slum Songs 贫民窟的音乐

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Dexu Xia

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Apr 2, 2021, 1:47:54 AM4/2/21

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They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Isaiah 35:10

Cateura is a small slum in Paraguay, South America. Desperately poor, its villagers survive by recycling items from its rubbish dump. But from these unpromising conditions something beautiful has emerged—an orchestra.

With a violin costing more than a house in Cateura, the orchestra had to get creative, crafting its own instruments from their garbage supply. Violins are made from oil cans with bent forks as tailpieces. Saxophones have come from drainpipes with bottle tops for keys. Cellos are made from tin drums with gnocchi rollers for tuning pegs. Hearing Mozart played on these contraptions is a beautiful thing. The orchestra has gone on tour in many countries, lifting the sights of its young members.

Violins from landfills. Music from slums. That’s symbolic of what God does. For when the prophet Isaiah envisions God’s new creation, a similar picture of beauty-from-poverty emerges, with barren lands bursting into blooming flowers (Isaiah 35:1–2), deserts flowing with streams (vv. 6–7), castaway war tools crafted into garden instruments (2:4), and impoverished people becoming whole to the sounds of joyful songs (35:5–6, 10).

“The world sends us garbage,” Cateura’s orchestra director says. “We send back music.” And as they do, they give the world a glimpse of the future, when God will wipe away the tears of every eye and poverty will be no more.

How have you seen God turn the “garbage” of your life into something beautiful? How might He wish to bring “music” out of your pain?

Holy Spirit, turn the poverty in my life into something beautiful.

耶和华救赎的民必归回，歌唱来到锡安。永乐必归到他们的头上。—以赛亚书35章10节

南美洲巴拉圭的卡特乌拉是个小贫民窟，那里的村民极度贫困，只能靠垃圾场内的回收物品维生。然而，在这没有指望的环境里，却孕育出一支美妙的管弦乐团。

在卡特乌拉，一把小提琴比一间房子还要值钱，因此这支管弦乐团需发挥创意，利用各种废弃物来制作乐器。小提琴是用油罐制成的，弯曲的叉子则成为系弦板；萨克斯风是用水管制成，按键则由瓶盖做成；大提琴是用锡鼓制成，调音弦轴则用擀面棍制成。聆听这些新奇的乐器合奏莫扎特的乐曲，是一件赏心乐事。这个管弦乐团还曾去过许多国家巡回演奏，开阔了这群年轻团员的眼界。

源于垃圾掩埋场的小提琴和来自贫民窟的音乐，都象征了上帝的作为。当先知以赛亚在异象中看见上帝新的创作时，也是看到类似化腐朽为神奇的景象：干旱之地开花繁盛（以赛亚书35章1-2节）；沙漠有江河涌流（6-7节）；弃置的战争武器被制成耕种工具（2章4节）；贫困的人在欢乐的歌声中变得完全（35章5-6、10节）。

卡特乌拉管弦乐团的总监表示：“这个世界给我们垃圾，我们却报以音乐。”而他们所做的能让世人一窥未来，就是上帝会擦去每个人脸上的泪水，不再有贫穷。

上帝曾如何将你人生的“垃圾”变成美好的事物？
上帝如何让你从痛苦中演奏出美妙的乐章？