TRIBUTES have been paid following the death of José Abreu, founder of a renowned music program that changed the lives of thousands of children.

Abreu founded El Sistema (the system), providing free music education in Venezuela’s shantytowns and impoverished neighborhoods.

The programe has inspired similar initiatives in other countries.

Venezuela announced three days of national mourning for “Maestro Abreu,” who died on Saturday aged 78.

He began the music project in 1975 and counted renowned Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel among his students.

“With devoted love and eternal gratitude to my mentor and father of El Sistema,” tweeted Dudamel, who is now director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Abreu was born in the Andean city of Valera on May 7, 1939. Music ran deep in his family — his grandfather had founded an orchestra in Italy and his grandmother was a passionate opera fan. Abreu’s mother played piano, and his father the guitar.

He pursued music studies but later — to help support his family — he moved to Caracas to pursue a degree in economics.

He later worked as an economist for the government and was elected as a substitute member of parliament in the 1960s.

Abreu said he became frustrated that Venezuela had only one orchestra while other countries, such as Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, had achieved greater musical development.

“That’s when the idea was born to organize a system to have at least one great Venezuelan-born orchestra,” he recalled.

He founded El Sistema in 1975 in a garage with just 11 musicians.

“They were so determined and so enthusiastic that I understood from that very moment that success was guaranteed,” he remembered.

The network eventually grew to 300 choirs and orchestras.

The concept has been echoed in a variety of other countries around the world, with particular success in Spain and Scotland, writes Will Grant, the BBC’s Latin America correspondent.

(SD-Agencies)