Joe Epstein – Our First Volunteer!

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Recently graduated in International Relations and Spanish, Joe Epstein came to Rio from California in February, with a view to staying in Rio for six months teaching English and putting his talents as a jazz trumpet player to use in the local music scene. Little did he know that just one month into his trip he would be teaching children to play trumpet in my kitchen in the favela!

I met Joe at a Baixada Jazz Big Band gig at Santo Scenarium just before carnival and last week he moved in to my house in the Pereirão favela as a volunteer brass teacher at the project. He played trumpet at at our monthly fundraiser, Curry Clube, on Sunday, and gave his first trumpet lessons last night. Welcome to the project Joe!

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Bindu Mathur

Bindu Mathur was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada and worked for 10 years in London as a TV producer/director, making science and history documentaries for the BBC, Discovery and Channel 4. She also made videos for international NGOs and has filmed in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Resident in Rio de Janeiro since 2007 she is the owner of the award-winning Casa Beleza B&B in Santa Teresa, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is a long-time collaborator with Favela Brass including making films for the project. Her children also studied at the project.