This is a translation from the German original
NAIROBI (dpa) - The youth orchestra members wear faded shirts. Red dust coats their ripped trousers. Some of their sandals are mismatched.
Sometimes the brass section is a little late, there are a few out-of-tune notes and the tune drags a little.
Nevertheless, the band carries on till the last note and the sound of the Kenyan national anthem reverberates around St John's Church hall.
But Michael the conductor, barely older than his charges, is not happy, "It's the national anthem. Try not to play it as loud as the other rackets you make."
The group of 13 to 17-year-olds meets every Sunday afternoon in the Korogocho slum in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
There are currently around 40 who come to spend two hours learning to play a classical instrument as well as studying music theory and playing in the orchestra together.
Outside the church hall, rubbish is piled up at the sides of the streets.
Women sell vegetables and other essentials from small wooden crates, while noisy mopeds whizz past, stirring up the dust.
Around 150,000 people live crammed side-by-side in Korogocho.
With a hint of irony, the slum's music lovers called their programme "Ghetto Classics."
Classical music is seldom taught at Kenyan public schools and it's even rarer to hear it played in poor districts.
"Originally it was meant to be a social project," says soprano Elizabeth Njoroge, who founded Ghetto Classics in 2009.
"We wanted to offer children in the slum a positive environment, keep them out of trouble and teach them discipline and focus," she says.
"As a musician it was important to me that this idea had something to do with music."
Because of a lack of instruments, Ghetto Classics began as a choir with a little music theory thrown in.
Then the German Embassy heard of the project at the end of 2011 and donated the majority of the instruments the orchestra currently uses, including violins, trumpets and clarinets.
Now every student has their own instrument - though not necessarily the ones they want.
"Saxophones are the most popular, but hardly anyone wants to play the drums," says veterinary student Benjamin Wamocho, who has volunteered as a teacher since the project began.
He learnt to play the flute at school.
"Helping others is part of human nature," the 25-year-old explains when asked about why he still comes every week.
"I've only managed to get where I am today with the help of others."
Ghetto Classics is reminis-cent of the El Sistema music education programme in Venezuela, founded by Jose Antonio Abreu with the aim of teaching underprivileged children confidence, a sense of community and discipline.
The famous conductor Gustavo Dudamel began his career there.
Ghetto Classics is less well funded, but has already had some significant success.
As he stands in front of a class of around 20, Brian Kepher exudes an air of authority and understanding that comes of having come through the programme himself.
The 20-year-old, who says four years ago he wasn't interested at all in music, is one of the project's success stories.
He grew up in Korogocho with four siblings. His father was unemployed and his mother sold vegetables to keep the family going.
Because money was scarce, he only went irregularly to school, though he was a scout and wanted to join the army.
Then he heard an orchestra play the national anthem for the first time.
"It was such a wonderful harmony!" he says.
It opened up a whole new world to him, one of Handel, Mozart and Dvorak, as well as Christian and African music, and became his overriding passion.
At Ghetto Classics he learnt to play the timpani and he watched videos of the best orchestras in the world in Internet cafes. He began to dream.
After a year he was invited to join the national youth orchestra and he now plays in Kenya's renowned national orchestra.
He also studies music and philosophy.
"I see my future in music," he says.
He still lives in Korogocho, though he prefers not to tell his neighbours about his studies and his success - he's afraid they could be jealous and perhaps harm him in some way.
Ghetto Classics has also been the start of a musical career for other young people: They earn money by performing.
Njoroge is proud of the project she began.
"The children are more confident, focused, and respon-sible," she says.
"They go to school more regularly. They see themselves as a team. And the whole neigh-bourhood is proud of them when they perform."
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