Campaigners hoping to set up a youth orchestra in the city have joined forces for the first time in a bid for their musical dream.
The campaign to bring a Sistema Scotland orchestra to Dundee was originally championed by local musician Michael Marra and is now being continued by his family and friends following his passing last October.
The campaigners held their first official meeting last week to come up with a slogan and plan their next steps.
Originally from Venezuela, Sistema is a charity which brings in children from impoverished backgrounds and gives them the opportunity to develop social skills and personal achievement through music.
Liam Brennan, drummer with Dundee band the Hazey Janes, which also includes Michael Marra’s children Matthew and Alice, said: “The meeting was about ways to raise awareness and get the people of Dundee on the side of the cause.
“We’re trying to create a brand for the Dundee campaign, start a website and approach a few famous friends and get them to give it the thumbs-up.
“It’s the first time that everyone has got together to hear what has happened up to now and what to do next.
“Michael Marra championed it and he introduced it to us. Since then, we have all researched it and it’s quite easy to see how successful it is in other parts of the world.”
The meeting at Dundee Contemporary Arts, which was attended by around 20 people, resulted in a new slogan for the campaign: “It’s More Than Music.”
Liam said: “There’s always been a bit of soul in Dundee and it’s an artistic place. We really want to put that across.
“It’s to do with creating adults who can live in the world better, communicate with people and work in a team.”
Started in the slums of Caracas, Venezuela, children were given violins, cellos, oboes and trumpets and taught to play together in an orchestra.
The charity has already proven successful in Raploch, Stirlingshire where the Big Noise Orchestra is based and another orchestra started recently in Glasgow.
Liam said: “It has affected hundreds of thousands of kids in Venuzuela because it has been running there for so long.
“It’s not really about musicians, it’s more about making good adults. It’s not about giving them a violin and becoming the next Nigel Kennedy, it’s bringing the community together.”
A fundraising concert was held in Abertay University in April and the proceeds of a tribute event to Michael Marra at the Rep in September will also go towards the campaign.
Liam said: “This is the Dundee version and it sold out in about five minutes.
“A lot of people were weirded out that the first Mick Marra tribute thing happened in Glasgow but that was just because Celtic Connections wanted to do a tribute because he had done so much for them.
“We are doing one that the Hazey Janes, mostly Alice, are organising, which will have loads of Scottish artists coming together at the Rep.”
Earlier this year, more than two dozen artists and musicians urged the city council to make the dream a reality.
In a letter to The Courier, the group said: “As artists and musicians who learned to play, act and create in Dundee, we would like to see the Sistema music project come to our city.”