© Sergio Ramazzot t i

K E N Y A

BACH TOTHE FUTURE

Nairobi, Kenya. A kid studying at the Korogocho slum music school

leaves the premises after a class

Music, wrote Claude Lévi-Strauss, is “a machine to suppress time”. In Korogocho, one of Nairobi’s largest slums, since some time ago music has also helped to suppress space, to make people forget the squalor and violence, to heal the wounds of the soul, and in some cases to open a door toward a future which, for those born on the edge of the huge open dump that is the symbol of the slum, wasn’t even possible to dream of.

Before 2008, in Korogocho no one had ever heard play a piece by Bach or Beethoven. That was the year when a young Kenyan decided to found a school of classical music for children and adolescents in the heart of the shantytown, right next to the dump site. Some of those children have now reached a place whose existence they didn’t even suspect – the Nairobi conservatory – and have before them a future as musicians. But even for the less talented, music is the only opportunity to suppress the time and space in which, in Korogocho, it is often too painful to live.

Nairobi, Kenya. Erick Ochieg, 22, gives a basic flute lesson to kids at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum. Ochieg is in turn a student of the music school

Nairobi, Kenya. The huge open-air dumpsite in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Brian Kepher, 20 (in blue), a student at the music school and would-be

conductor, conducts a rehearsal of his fellow students before a concert at the

SafariCom Foundation building. SafariCom is a cellphone service provider whose foundation

sponsors the Korogocho music school

Nairobi, Kenya. The “Ghetto Classic” orchestra, whose players are all students of the Korogocho school, during a concert rehearsal at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum. Every now and then, the orchestra plays for the public in these same premises

Nairobi, Kenya. Stephen Kamau, 15, a cello student at the music school, in the house where he lives in the Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Music school students practice on their cellos at

St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. A kid watches one of the students of the music school

practicing on a keyboard at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. A kid during a basic tuba lesson at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. David Otieno, 18 (right), and Lameck Otieno, 15, both students at the music school, practice on their violins at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Erick Ochieg, 22, gives a basic flute lesson to kids at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum. Ochieg is in turn a student of the music school

Nairobi, Kenya. Passers by along one of the main roads leading into Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. David Otieno, 18, a student of the Korogocho music school, during a concert rehearsal

in the SafariCom Foundation building. SafariCom is a cellphone service provider whose foundation sponsors the Korogocho school, as well as an orchestra formed

by students of several music schools in town

Nairobi, Kenya. David Otieno, 18, a violin student at the music school, in the house

where he lives in the Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Lameck Otieno, 15, a student at the music school, practices on his

violin at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Stephen Kamau, 15, a student at the music school, practices on his cello at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. The “Ghetto Classic” orchestra, whose players are all students of the Korogocho school, during a concert rehearsal at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum. Every now and then, the orchestra plays for the public in these same premises

Nairobi, Kenya. A basic music lesson for kids at St. John’s

parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Students of the music school rehearse at St.

John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Students of the music school rehearse at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum, using as reference a song played on a cellphone

Nairobi, Kenya. A violin lesson for kids at St. John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Celine Akuamu, 18, watches as one of her fellow students of the music school practices at St.

John’s parish in Korogocho slum

Nairobi, Kenya. Celine Akuamu, 18, a clarinet student at the music school, in the house where she lives in the Korogocho slum

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