Photograph by Kailas NaikLuis Dias uses the power of music to bring
strength and joy to disadvantaged children
J
uly 2007. A BBC concert showca-
sing the Buskaid Soweto String
Ensemble at the Royal Albert Hall
in London. The performance ends to
thunderous applause. The dancers
and musicians in the orchestra stand,
look proudly around, smile and bow,
while the audience claps on and on.
Calls of “bravo!” echo through the
hall. Among the crowd, transfixed,
is 41-year-old Dr Luis Dias. He had
heard of this ensemble and knew
it consisted solely of children from
South Africa’s poorest townships, but
had never seen them performing live.
Speaking about it years later, his voice
still filled with awe, he says: “That
concert just blew my mind.”
Born in 1966 to an illustrious familyof Goan doctors, Dias followed in
his family’s footsteps and pursued
medicine, specializing in gynaecology
and obstetrics. Trained in the violin
from the age of five, music was an
integral part of his upbringing, and has
remained an overwhelming passion
ever since. In 1998, he went to study
and work in London, a city he loved for
its rich music culture. In the same year
as the Buskaid performance, Dias came
across a similar project—El Sistema—a
programme that offers classical music
training to underprivileged youth in
Venezuela. If he had wondered how
successful such orchestras could be,
all doubts were now put to rest. These
were living proof that children who
had never held a musical instrument,Reader’s Digest
EVERYDAY HEROES
A Noteworthy Life
By Rima Datta Holland24 august 2019