And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,/ She needs not June for beauty's heightening

[Suffer here meaning 1) tolerate (does not suffer fools gladly); 2) allow (though it's archaic)]

As I listen to Gustavo Dudamel’s recording of Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, I can’t help but feel that there’s something special about their rendition of the symphony. No, not that it’s extremely outstanding where musicality is concerned – their recording exudes a special feeling, an emotion different from any other recording.

Is it the fact that the music is alive with the beating of young hearts? Is it because they feel a special connection with Dudamel? Is it because they’re all from Venezuela? I wasn’t sure, until I asked myself this: Is it because they all grew up with El Sistema?

It was then that I became certain why the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra sounds so special.

El Sistema (full name: Fundacion del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de las Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela), to quote the definition on Wikipedia, is “a publicly financed private-sector music-education program in Venezuela”. The programme, founded in 1975 by Venezuelan economist and amateur musician José Antonio Abreu, utilizes classical music as a medium through which children are educated and protected from negative influence from the vastly criminal environment in Venezuela. El Sistema calls this goal “protection of childhood through training, rehabilitation and prevention of criminal behaviour”.

For over 30 years, El Sistema has been pulling Venezuelan kids out of dire poverty by turning them into “world-beating classical musicians”, to quote Charlotte Higgins of The Guardian. Higgins certainly isn’t exaggerating: some of them – many of them – eventually make it to more famous professional orchestras, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker. And it couldn’t have been a coincidence that one of the El Sistema alumni, Gustavo Dudamel, has become a world-beating classical musician in all senses of the phrase: he is now a full-fledged professional conductor, and at 26, he has already taken the world by storm. Such is the success of The System.

The Berliner Philharmoniker’s music director Sir Simon Rattle has heaped praises on the system, calling it “the most important thing that has happened to classical music”. Never has classical music played such a huge role in the lives of children; classical music, in this case, serves as the children’s lifeline, their hope for a good future, their source of joy, fun and most importantly especially in a country like Venezuela, their source of true, solid, supportive friendship.

El Sistema has produced a new generation of classical musicians who play classical music in a way different from any other musicians. They treasure their experiences with classical music so very dearly; they know it is this medium of the arts that has enabled them to break free from the crime-laden and poverty-stricken Venezuelan society, and each time they touch the ivories, each time they press their little lips against the brass mouthpieces, each time they pull the small, taut bunch of horse hairs over the strings, each time they tap their mallets on the shiny metallic keys, they inevitably produce a very special sound. Unlike music produced by any other children in music schools, the children of El Sistema generate a distinctive energy, a unique vibe in their music. It’s extremely difficult to put it down in words; one must hear it for himself to understand this.

Naturally, in the music of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, whose members are all from El Sistema, the special El Sistema sound is at its height. The orchestra comprises the best musicians from El Sistema, and it is this orchestra’s sound that has touched me in a way no other youth orchestra can. Every member of the orchestra understands every other member in a special way: they’ve helped each other through all sorts of challenges, be it musical, physical, emotional, and most significantly – especially in the Venezuelan environment – psychological challenges. It is because of this – I think – that the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra touches the hearts of many, many people. To illustrate that, I must say Placido Domingo cried when he watched the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra perform.

The more I see, read and hear about El Sistema, the more I can’t help but feel awed by the programme. I really hope to see this Sistema spread to other countries in South America, where drugs, petty theft and more major criminal acts are terribly rampant. This Sistema could really be the solution to building a better world.

El Sistema is the first organisation that has impressed me in this way. I have never felt so strongly that something should receive all the support it can possibly get and it makes me immensely glad to hear how much Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is willing to give to the system – $29 million per year. Chavez may be slightly (or very) stupid when it comes to some aspects in politics (“Why don’t you shut up,” said the Spanish king to Chavez on one very memorable occasion not too long ago), but this move was excellent.

The children in Venezuela are in need of a system like El Sistema to bring them through childhood, protect their youth, nurture and educate them – to groom the next generation, and the next.

This is a Sistema that works. It does. Children who were once relying on stealing and selling stolen things for money and food have entered El Sistema and changed completely, turning themselves from liabilities to great assets to their country. Children from impossibly impoverished backgrounds have acquired solid musical skills through El Sistema and hence served as breadwinners for their families, bringing back more bucks than they could ever dream of.

Abreu really did something great for the children and people of Venezuela. Thousands of children have found their way in life because of Abreu’s initiative, and this positive result can only get better in the years to come. For the other people of Venezuela, El Sistema is just as important because El Sistema isn’t just cultivating a generation of virtuous, morally upright children who know how to make good use of their lives; El Sistema has opened a new door for Venezuela through which better income and better quality of life can enter. The money goes into the Sistema, work is appropriately done, and now money is coming out of the Sistema too.

Venezuela should be intensely proud of their Sistema. Even if they aren’t, I am, and I’m sure the world is.

Never have I seen someone like Abreu, who addresses the problem of poverty in such a thoughtful, intelligent way. Never have I seen a programme that cares so much for the people they are helping. Sure, you’d think every charitable organisation does care, but I know for sure that it is a rare thing.

Suffer the children. Spare a thought for them before jumping straight into something you think would be good for them. There’re hundreds, thousands of organisations in the world, working on projects and developments they think would benefit impoverished or tormented children. It’s not nice to question the dedication of the administrative persons and pioneers of these organisations, but I can’t help but wonder why many of these organisations aren’t doing all they can to help.

I speak from experience.