Support for an Abused Venezuelan Violinist

2017-06-25 String Instrument News

A Venezuelan public violinist named Wuilly Arteaga holding his broken violin with tearful eyes while he was on the street for an anti-government protest. It has been a practice for Arteaga to play his violin as a peaceful expression of the people’s message for the government during a street demonstration.

It was peaceful during his past protest, but during this time, it became violent. According to Arteaga, he was on the street playing the national anthem of the country when one of the national guards came up to him and grabbed his violin by its strings while riding on a motorcycle. The musician tried to hold his violin as it was forcefully pulled away from him. As a result, the violin player fell on his knees, hurt his leg and left with a broken violin.

It was a regular protest held since the month of April 2017. The protest was about the huge inflation and the increase of crimes in the country, a message in which they wanted to convey to Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president.

Because many saw on video what happened to the musician, a huge number of people offered assistance. Others wanted to buy the musician a new violin, so they raise funds in various ways. Arteaga was very thankful for them, so he sends them a video expressing his utmost gratitude for them.