It is early Monday evening in Handsworth, Birmingham. Two groups of children are taking their places in a school music centre – a former Victorian Methodist church still boasting an organ and pulpit – having selected their instruments from a side room. There is no disputing the excitement and anticipation for the two lessons and rehearsals that lie ahead. A few students are already warming up.
Across the UK, many thousands will be doing the same – except the instruments these children are setting up would rarely feature in a western orchestra or ensemble. Instead, there are djembes from West Africa, samba drums from Africa and South America, sitars, tabla twin-hand drums and dhol double-headed drums from the Indian subcontinent, harmoniums from West Bengal, and steel pans from Trinidad and Tobago.
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