In August 2005, the “Escuela de Música del Movimiento Mi Cometa” was formed. Thanks to the management of then tutor Magdalena Abrams, from Germany, funds were established to buy new instruments like clarinets or electric keyboards, in addition to amplifiers and other essential equipment to put together music groups.
Shortly after her return to Germany Magdalena looked for other young people who also wanted to support this initiative in Ecuador. She arrived in Guasmo in 2007 with a group of 15 volunteers from Oldenburg. This was a short visit, only one month of intensive classes.
In 2008 Magdalena moved to Hamburg, this time searching for music students from the University where she worked (The University of Music and Theatre of Hamburg). From this year on, the Musiker ohne Grenzen (MoG), or Musicians without Borders, group came together officially to maintain this initiative and be able to travel to Guasmo Sur every year with a group of competent music instructors.
After five years of work, the group of people who made up “ La Escuela de Música del Movimiento Mi Cometa” decided they needed to build an identity for their organization that better represented their work, since they represented were not exactly a music school. This is how the name “Clave de Sur” came about – inspired by the organization’s location in the southern part of the city and by the multiple meanings of the word “clave”: the belief that music can be the key, or “clave”, to overcoming challenging circumstances that affect the area where the school is located, and because “clave” is an important musical concept as well.
