Kolkata. August 2013.

Photos by Fumiko Tanaka.

Keys of Change in collaboartion with Indian organisation Pied Pipers organised 10 days of musical activities for audiences amongst people living in difficult conditions in and around Kolkata. Panos Karan (piano), Zach Tarpagos and Ana Chifu (flute) put together 18 perfomances in a variaty of places, including slum communities, school for children of sex workers, orphanage, music schools, hospital, home for the elderly etc, reaching out to an audience of more than 2,000 people. Fumiko Tanaka was part of the KoC team as a volunteer photographer. The main purpose of this visit was to reach out to as many children and young people living in difficult conditions, perform music for them, and use music as a tool of communication and positive interaction. A second objective of this visit was to identify locations, projects on the ground and individuals that would benefit from a continuous musical education programme and test the waters for future musical interaction from within the community. This was the first time Keys of Change was participating in a project in India and we were very fortunate to have the logistical support from a local NGO (Pied Pipers), who provided accommodation, transportation, liaised with the communities and arranged the visits, as well as a very strong PR campaign.