Composer Michael Levine On Designing Instruments/Score For Doc "Landfill Harmonic"

When life gives you trash, build a symphony.  That simple sentiment fuels “Landfill Harmonic,” a documentary highlighting a poverty-stricken Paraguay slum that finds renewed purpose when a garbage picker and music director turn trash into musical instruments for the community’s children.  Comprised exclusively by young teens from a neighborhood that finds more than 40% of their age group dropping out of school to start jobs, the “Recycled Orchestra of Cateura” encouraged education and ultimately performed in global arenas. Since it began touring the festival circuit in 2015 until it’s final run in November, 2016, “Landfill Harmonic” won twenty-two awards including the Impact Award at Vancouver and the Audience Awards at SXSW and AFI Fest.  Michael Levine, the film’s composer, couldn’t be prouder of the awareness the film has raised.

Levine’s agent brought the project to his attention.  After meeting with executive producer Rodolfo Madero, who was involved with the symphony prior to the documentary’s initiation, and co-producer Brad Allgood whose passion was palpable, Levine was anxious to get started.  He began by pouring over the various themes that arise throughout the story, finding himself specifically inspired by the way music became a gateway to the world for Paraguay’s youth.  Working with his daughter, Levine wrote a Spanish-language piece for the film’s closing credits.  Featuring a basic Latin minor chord that’s played on the guitar, the piece became a homage to Favio Chavez, the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura’s music director.  Levine began using variations of the closing credit’s melody as a theme throughout the movie.  Levine further tied the score into the subject of the movie by recording the soundtrack on instruments he built or modified himself.

“Every musician I know has used a table and chairs (as a drum) or banged a pencil out of boredom. The world around us is a percussion instrument,” said Levine.  “I used traditional solutions but (created them with) recycled goods; I was looking for specific sound, looking for what the instrument had to offer.”

Levine notes embracing the challenge of the recycled instruments was something he learned by watching the subjects of the documentary.  The trash collector who built the instruments had no formal training. Favio would, for example, show him a violin.  The novice builder would find material, such as an infant formula bottle, for the instrument’s base.  He then followed the specific measurements of the violin and built out its neck and bridge using whatever was at hand, such as spare bits of wood and forks.  Working by trail and error, he eventually perfected a sound despite akward shapes that caused unusual distortion – an added challenge for the young students to adapt to as they learned to play.  In addition to crafting string instruments, the handyman also designed brass and percussion pieces.

“He was a very creative guy; in a different contect, he could be a major Google engineer,” said Levine.

As Levine built his instruments and score, he maintained close collaboration with the film’s producers and directors.  He even sought input from Favio, who’s also a trained musician.  Noting the film’s financing arose from a Kickstarter campaign, Levine enjoyed maintaining a fully collaborative process throughout the score’s completion.  Throughout production, everyone involved remained committed to finding funding and resources that would result in the film’s completion.  While the barriers were often daunting, Levine and the crew learned to follow Favio’s lesson:

“Just because you have nothing is no excuse to do nothing.”

At the time of this story, Levine’s closing credit song, “We Will Dream”, is an un-ranked contender for a “Best Song” Oscar nomination.