Diego Frazão was 12 years old when the world saw him cry. 🎻
At the São João Batista Cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, he was saying goodbye to Evandro João da Silva, the man who had taught him to play the violin and had become his second father. Evandro coordinated an AfroReggae orchestra, a project that rescued children from favelas like Parada de Lucas through music instead of the streets. He was shot dead during a robbery, without resisting. Diego, his eyes closed by tears, continued playing until the end. Photographer Marcos Tristão captured that moment for O Globo, and the image went around the world.
No one imagined that Diego’s story would end just six months later. Appendicitis led to septic shock, and that was when doctors discovered that the boy had leukemia. He died on April 1, 2010, without reaching the age of 13. Today, the orchestra where he learned to play bears his name, and every violin that sounds there is a piece of his story that remains alive.