(♪♪♪) - (female narrator): Maximiliano Cruz plays the accordion because he can't be a farmer like his father.

- (dubbed): I'm so happy, because with music, I can afford to pay for my family's expenses.

- Jorge Gijón passes on his musical knowledge to his children, Leonardo and Karina.

- (dubbed): Thank God we've always been blessed with work.

- And Juan Lopez is banging out a rhythm on cans because he hasn't got any drums.

- (dubbed): I've always said, you can get anything you wish for.

- These street musicians may not have studied at the conservatory, but through their art, they provide for themselves with dignity, while making Oaxaca an even more beautiful city.

Blind or partially-sighted, the musicians featured in this series are living out their musical dreams.

Their stories are examples of hard work, dedication and passion that lead us al share in the wonder of truly... (♪♪♪) In south-western Mexico, in the Sierra Madre del Sur valley, the picturesque city of Oaxaca is just waking up.

The syncopated rhythms that echo through the city center's alleys are the work of Juan, a young blind percussionist who, not having his own instrument, makes do with cans an containers to practice his art.

It was at a wedding, which he attended as a child, that he first fell in love with percussion.

(♪♪♪) - I paid a lot of attention to it, I'm not sure why.

But after that, I started liking it.

I thought: wow, that rhythm and instrument are really cool.

But I had no idea about th instrument, or what drums were.

At that time, I grabbed some of my mom's pots, some cans, some other things and a couple of sticks.

And that's how I started practicing.

I was six years old when I lost my sight.

I don't know why I lost it.

When I was seven or eight, I was operated on here in Oaxaca.

They tried to help me regain my sight.

But it just wasn't possible.

When I leave the house, the places I know here in Oaxaca don't seem so complicated to me anymore.

I've always gone out alone with my cane.

Where I find it difficult, is going places I've never been before.

For example, I've been told to meet someone someplace new.

They'll tell me to take the bus on such and such a street - as if I could see the street names.

And I have to find a way, find the street where that bus runs, and then ask if they go to whatever place I'm looking for.

I have to learn.

I've found that hard.

- Maximiliano Cruz is an accordionist.

As he does every morning, he leaves home to head off to his work-place: Oaxaca's bustling tourist center.

He's one of the city's many blind street musicians.

Maximiliano was born to a poor family in a small town north of Oaxaca.

Between the ages of 7 and 15, his eyesight deteriorated greatly from cataracts, which ultimately left him completely blind.

In a community where almost everyone works in the fields, life as a farmer was no longer an option.

- Now that I'm fully blind, it's harder for me, because I used to see a little.

I find it very hard to go walking.

I know what the historic center is like, though, so I can walk around there with no problem.

Especially now that, on each corner, they've installed a little plaque with braille, and that helps even more.

When blind people come from other places and don't know the city well, they can just touch the plaque to know what street they're on.

- Unable to continue the family farming tradition, Maximiliano turned to music as a livelihood.

It's a choice he doesn't regret, and one that brings much happiness to passers-by alongside the Santo Domingo Convent's majestic church, one of Oaxaca's historic gems.

(♪♪♪) - In my village, I started by playing the recorder, which, everyone knows, it's what young people learn in high school.

In 2001, 2002, I was here, around the city's main square playing, and a fellow from Queretaro turned up with an accordion - which motivated me to learn the instrument.

He started playing near me.

I went up to him and told him I wanted to learn.

Because I played the flute, but I felt like it couldn't be heard, whereas the accordion is much louder.

He told me that I needed to buy an accordion and start practicing.

Thank God, I can now sort of play the accordion, but I keep practicing because in the future, I want to be a great master - so I can teach or play in different places.

(♪♪♪) - One, two, three, four... (♪♪♪) - Street musician Jorge Gijó lives in the small municipality of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, about five kilometers from Oaxaca, with his wife Minerva and their two teenage children.

(♪♪♪) Sixteen-year-old Leonardo plays the tenor saxophone, and his older sister Karina accompanies him on the alto saxophone.

Like her parents, the young woman lives with a visual disability.

The family of musicians welcomes us into their home, located on Pavorreales Street.

- My daughter Karina is 18 years old.

She started working with me on the streets when she was around nine, an my son Leonard, at around seven.

(♪♪♪) One afternoon I arrived home and my wife said: "Guess what?

"Our children are going to start music classes in November."

I asked if they were giving them the instruments or what.

And she said: "No, you're going to buy the instruments."

- It's Jorge who teaches the children music, and accompanies them in the streets of Oaxaca or at various events where they perform as a trio - but his spouse Minerva is the one who presses them to always do their best.

She doesn't hide that she's a demanding mother, but she's very proud of Leonardo and Karina.

- (dubbed): When he saw that the children had learned some songs, he said it was time to go out on the streets and start working.

They felt comfortable with the knowledge they'd acquired, and that's when they decided to go to work together.

(♪♪♪) Maximiliano is officially recognized as a street artist by the Municipality of Oaxaca.

This lets him perform in the "tourist corridor", where the city's main attractions are concentrated.

But with the Covid-19 pandemic, tourists have become scarce, which has had a great impact on street musicians.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): Due to the pandemic, I don't have any events.

I used to play a lot of events.

Thank God and the municipalit that they're allowing me to play on the streets in the tourist district.

They tolerate me in the public space so that I can cover my basic needs.

And the truth is, that here, in the municipality of Oaxaca, they recognize me.

I'm not lying or showing off.

I just say it as it is, I'm a character on the tourist strip.

- When he plays, Maximiliano always puts a small colorful box at his feet to collect donations from passers-by.

As an added safety measure, the box is carefully secured b a string connected to his belt.

Since visitors are gradually starting to return to Oaxaca's tourist corridor again, the little box has recently been filling up more than in the previous few months, which had been a particularly hard time financially.

(♪♪♪) - Many people recognize me.

I'm playing, and they support me.

I'm really happy with what I earn, because I can provide for my family with it.

Thanks to God and my instrument - and the people who help me out with a few coins... - Athlete, and a proud competitor, it's his heartbeat that he meticulously follows.

He heads over to the municipal stadium almost every day for an intense workout, one punctuated by a great heart's steady beating.

- (dubbed): Today is a training day, I'm here with my guide.

He's guided me in all the races and competitions I've participated in.

We've won in a number of places because he's guided me - so I wouldn't get lost on the track.

Sports always de-stress me, whenever I practice.

- After stretching Juan runs a few laps to warm up.

One of the reasons he brings the same energy and passion to training as he does to his music is because he has dreams of competing in the 2023 Para-Pan American Games.

- Despite the fact that it's tiring, whenever I train, I feel great.

Sports also really help for playing music.

Aside from gaining energy, you also gain strength, so you can play harder.

- (dubbed): We're going to try and get better every day, to be in the best physical and mental shape for the competition.

This won't be an easy competition, but I know we can make it, and hopefully bring back a medal and represent Mexico well.

- He's my trainer: the one who guides me, checks my speed and my technique.

- Ready?

Set... One foot only.

One, two, three, go!

I'm here!

Here!

Here!

(clapping) I'm here!

Good!

I feel very good about helping someone with a disability.

It isn't the same as with a conventional person.

Just as he learns from me, I learn from him.

He works hard for his day to day.

It hasn't been easy.

I've seen him suffer here on the tracks.

I've seen him struggle in life as well.

- When I'm training, I forget about everything.

All the hard times I've been through.

Music is a tough career.

You're never done learning.

I've always said if you want something, you can achieve it.

If you say you can't, then obviously you won't.

You just need to say: I want it, I'll do it, I can.

That's it, that's the key.

Before performing in the streets of Oaxaca, which he's now done for over 20 years, Jorge lived in the United States for several years.

His mother had decided to move to New York, hoping that American specialists could prevent him from losing his sight.

It was already too late for an operation, but Jorge was able to study music there at a good school.

- (dubbed): I lived in the United States for 16 years.

When I arrived there, I was 10 years old.

I met a woman who worked with a multi-millionaire who was also blind.

And she was the one who told me about the New York Institute for the Blind.

She was the one who sponsored all of my education.

Because when I left Mexico for the States, I hadn't even gone to kindergarten.

- Karina and her brother are very close.

Leonardo is always happy t support his sister in every way.

- (dubbed): Since I was six years old, when I started losing my sight, he was always there with me.

He was always beside me, supporting me.

He is a very important part of my life, and of my getting ahead.

- (dubbed): I felt terrible, because it was always the two of us running around chasing each other here and there.

And then suddenly, she stopped running around with me like she always had.

- (Jorge): One, two, three, four.

(♪♪♪) (tapping) - (Karina): Music is very important to us.

That's how my dad has provided for us since we were children.

Thanks to him, we learned about music.

More than anything, he's been my inspiration for learning.

That has helped me a lot, to be able to socialize and grow.

- Though Jorge is a tough task-master rehearsing with his children, for him, pleasure must also remain a key part of being a musician.

In this family, music is synonymous with joy and celebration, much more than work.

In fact, it's at the very heart of their life together.

(♪♪♪) In Oaxaca, Maximiliano goes to the Sanchez Pascuas covered market to do his shopping.

The weeks at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the place was closed, were particularly hard times for the musician.

- (Maximiliano, dubbed): Something very hard for me when the pandemic started was that they closed so many places.

I couldn't go out to buy my food.

I thank a lady, who is 70 years old, a grandmother who lives in the neighbourhood.

I'm grateful to her.

She fed me, she sold me meals.

Hello!

I'd already gone passed you.

As long as you have hands, arms and feet, there's a solution to everything.

There's no need to see and do like everyone else, no, on the contrary.

Some people come up to me and ask me what to do; people who drink.

They say, they always hear me playing and see me smiling.

That I always seem well despite being blind.

I tell them to follow my advice: Do something else.

Take care of what you have.

Because if you're 100%, you have your sight, you have hands and feet, there's nothing missing.

- In Oaxaca, as in the rest of Mexico, the main downtown plaza is called the “zocalo”.

Maximiliano performs here regularly.

It was also here that, a few years ago, he met an expatriate foreign musician with whom he developed a close friendship.

Since then, they regularly play together, having even formed a group.

(♪♪♪) - (Maximiliano): I have colleague named Samuel Patrick, a character and a violinist, and we play events along with a cellist.

Our group is called the Trio Zapocelta.

"Zapo", because I speak zapoteco and "celta", well he's English, and he says his family is Celtic.

(They play Por una cabeza.)

- (Samuel, dubbed): I thin he's a very interesting person.

I was impressed that he plays the accordion so well.

When we're playing, we forget all the disabilities.

All of that is forgotten.

It's all something beyond that.

(♪ Por una cabeza ♪) - My dream is to play in another state, and in other countries.

To show my talent.

Hopefully, with God's help and practising every day, I think I will succeed.

(♪ Por una cabeza ♪) - After his training is done, Juan heads over to his teacher and friend Abdiel Jimenez's home, wher he's learning to play the drums, an instrument he isn't lucky enough to have at home.

While waiting for his student, Abdiel sets up the drums.

More than just a percussion teacher, he's a seasoned teacher who has created a raised musical notation system called "Cuadrofonia Musical".

- (Abdiel, dubbed): I created a writing system to teach blind students because I had a girl who was blind and didn't know how to read braille.

So, I created a different writing, and it's what I use to teach blind and sighted students.

I see things this way: why teach two systems?

In a class that lasts an hour, giving half an hour to each group.

I think it's better to teach something both groups can use, written in ink for those who see and embossed for those who can't.

That way, they speak the same language and can work in groups.

Slowly, slowly, and then a drum fill.

(He imitates a drum rhythm.)

I met him about three years ago.

He has progressed a lot.

He has a good ear, and has really developed it.

He has a good sense of rhythm.

He's internalised it all.

(He imitates a drum rhythm.)

One, two, three, four...

It's believed that with blindness, the ear becomes more developed, but it actually develops from the desire to learn.

And he has that.

I think he did develop that due to being blind - but more so, because he really wants to play the drums.

That's the most important thing.

Not that he's blind, but that he wants to learn.

(♪♪♪) - Classes are great, but playing in a group is even better.

At his keyboardist friend Miguel's house, they're accompanied by Abdiel on bass.

The trio plays a small improvised concert to neighbours too-long deprived of musical performances by the pandemic.

(♪♪♪) - When I first start playing, many people don't realize.

They think I can see.

When I'm done playing, there's always someone who guides me to my seat, or where I need to go.

And that's when they realize.

They ask: "Can't the drummer see?"

And then, they're surprised.

How does someone who can't see play the drums?

That's when they realize I can't see.

(♪♪♪) I'd love to teach children.

Hopefully one day, I'll be able to.

It's my dream to become a professional musician.

I've always dreamed about being up on a big stage.

(♪♪♪)