( Canada)When Mark Landry woke up Tuesday morning, part of him
was missing.
The Montreal man doesn’t have much in terms of material things.
He lives on the streets, but he brightens many commuters’ days with
his violin, which he’s been playing since he was 17 years old, in
Metro stations around the city. That small piece of hardwood and
taut strings also kept him fed, as he used it to busk during rush
hour.
Tuesday morning, though, he awoke after a night during which
temperatures dipped into the 30s to find the violin that served as
his livelihood and his joy had been stolen in the night.
Landry immediately made a sign informing his morning fans of
what occurred and outstretched a red Solo cup to passersby in the
Joliette station in hopes of raising enough to buy a new one.
Marie-Philippe Mercier Lambert saw the sign and snapped a photo,
posting it to Facebook with a message that explained, in French,
why she shared it: “in the hope that a good Samaritan has a violin
to give.”
That’s when staff at the Orchestre Métropolitain, which is
“dedicated to bringing classical music from here and abroad to the
entire community of Metropolitan Montréal,” according to its
wedsite, found the post and showed it to the orchestra’s CEO Jean
R. Dupré.
“We were really, really touched by this posting,” Dupré told The
Washington Post via telephone on Tuesday night. “We said, ‘Oh my
God, this poor man lost his only way of communicating his passion
to others.’”
He didn’t waste any time in calling his friends at Maison du
Violon, a local violin shop, to ask if they would like to help him
replace Landry’s instrument. According to Dupré, they said, “that’s
a great idea.”
They offered to help Dupré give Landry a brand new violin, case
and bow by selling it at cost, CBC reported.
“We found a solution to help him out,” Dupré said. “We had to
realize this person was not just a nobody. We knew this person,
because he had been playing in the subway for the last six or seven
years. This person was a person who played music.”
Francis Lapointe of the Maison du Violon said they wanted to
“put music back in his life,” according to CBCnews.
Dupré’s motivation was simple.
“This is what the orchestra is all about,” he said.
Meanwhile, Landry prayed, convinced in his faith that God would
deliver him a new instrument.
“God’s gonna give me a new one,” Landry said. Otherwise, he
would “go through a lower level of poverty, which is to live
without my violin.”
He told Dupré he was lost without his instrument.
“I talked to God this morning and said I cannot live without my
violin,” Landry told him.
As the head of the city’s orchestra and a music lover, it’s a
feeling Dupré understands.
“If you know music, the musicians actually connect with their
instruments,” he said.
Tuesday afternoon, Dupré, joined by a CBC news crew, delivered
the violin to Landry. The resulting video shows the bearded man’s
eyes light up as he rips off his red-and-black checkered jacket to
free his arms and begin playing.
“Immediately when I gave him the violin, he opened the case and
said, ‘God listened to me,’” Dupré said. “He just grabbed the
instrument right at that exact moment and began playing.”
“It was really a special moment for us and for music as a
whole,” Dupré said, adding that he hopes the experience will
encourage others to help those in need.
“I hope it was actually inspiring for other people,” Dupré said.
“It was a small gesture, but I hope it inspires other people.
That’s what the takeaway should be.”
Happy Ending;
Before the violin was stolen;
