Daniel Carvalho patiently polished a guitar neck, replaced the frets and repaired the bridge, learning the craft of a luthier to refurbish old, donated instruments to give to kids in Brazil’s favelas.
"It’s super cool what I’m learning here, and we are helping these children, which is important," 24-year-old Daniel told AFP, surrounded by tools he handles carefully and precisely.
"The luthier makes art," added Daniel, a virtuoso guitarist himself according to his friends, with a laugh.
Elsewhere in the shop, Gilberto de Lima put his ear right up against the dots on a fretboard repaired by an apprentice. With one simple gesture, he demanded silence and slowly plucked the cords and turned the pegs until he obtained the right notes.
"You have to tune the guitar first… Then, you should play some harmonies to see whether the bridge and the frets are in the right place and at the right height to get that perfect sound," said the 24-year-old, another apprentice at the workshop.
"I already feel I can tune my own instrument and sometimes that of my friends. But if there are more serious problems, then I let a professional take care of it."
About 40 different apprentices divided into four groups refurbish old instruments at this workshop in northern Rio de Janeiro.
The usually expensive training is financed by the Rio state government, the city and the Rock in Rio group, whose eponymous festival was launched in 1985 and has returned for the first time in 10 years to Rio.
The group, whose festival hopes to host 700,000 people from September 23 to October 2, aims to repair 1,400 guitars collected in recent months and hand them to organizations across the country "that use music as an education and social tool," said festival vice president Roberta Medina.
Most of the students are musicians who find the training in guitar-making a "wonderful occasion" to make money while learning an artistic trade, said Marcela Dandara, 17.
"I never thought I would do a luthier internship. But when I learned about this opportunity, I jumped on it. In Brazil, only about 100 people do this. It’s an artistic profession that is done with taste and brings pleasure," she added.
Professor Antonio Albuquerque, 72, said he discovered the job of making guitars when he was 48, and began teaching as a hobby after losing his job.
Today, it’s his "passion."
"I designed my first musical instrument when I was 16 and I never thought I would live off this one day. Now, I don’t want to do anything else than to be a luthier," he said, surrounded by students attentive to his every move.
After their training, the students come away with enough knowledge to repair any stringed instrument, and delighted to have brought a little music to the children of the slums.
