Most art exhibitions come with a “Do not touch” sign, but not “Recycled Sounds,” opening at Allens Lane Art Center on Sept. 8. These original instruments, which Brazilian percussionist Dendê Macêdo crafted from found objects, are meant to be played by everyone.

“Sound, for me, is fascinating,” Macêdo said. He gently plunks a few improvised notes on a nearby instrument. “This is never gonna come again. The computer is not gonna make this.”

Macêdo, a native of Bahia, grew up in the city of Salvador on Brazil’s northeast coast, a region known for its vibrant Afro-Brazilian culture. “My family didn’t have a lot of money to buy a real instrument,” he said. But he began to experiment with percussion as a child.

By age 14, he was playing professionally with the Afro-Brazilian music group Timbalada. Later, he founded his own folkloric ensemble as well as his own band, and has been developing his solo career for more than 20 years. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, and Brazil.

While living in New York City, he met his wife, a Philadelphia native, and they moved to Germantown 11 years ago, where a family home offered enough room for his studio and all of his instruments. He’s the founder of Mamadêlê Foundation, a Philadelphia-based cultural exchange nonprofit that celebrates Bahia’s Afro-Brazilian culture through performances, classes, and trips.

Inventions everywhere

The Recycled Sounds project began when Macêdo was living in New York.

“I started to see many objects for free in the streets,” he said. He was surprised by the variety of things he could take home and began crafting them into instruments. A golf club become a berimbau (a Brazilian percussion instrument traditionally made from a gourd). A motorcycle became a xylophone. He remembers jumping across traffic to snag an abandoned tire on the highway.

The first instrument that really made him feel like an inventor, he says, was a drum made out of a galvanized trash can lid with a cover that held plastic beads inside. In partnership with Latin Percussion — a company that, according to its website, “produces traditional and innovative instruments from all cultures” — Macêdo developed it into a popular instrument called a trash snare. “From there, I could not stop until today,” he said.

Finding and cleaning the items became part of a meditative process that now includes a custom spray-paint technique, turning the final object into a visual work of art as well as an instrument. In 2021, he released a Recycled Sounds album with 11 tracks featuring his creations.

Global to local

Mounting an exhibition of his instruments as art in their own right was a longtime dream, Macêdo says. When his band played last year’s Mt. Airy Arts Festival, he met Allens Lane Executive Director Vita Litvak.

That connection led to the show. “His sculptural and musical assemblages are as full of bright, bold, and mesmerizing energy as his music,” Litvak said. “They enrich our understanding and expand auditory and creative possibilities, while centering sustainability and the importance of material culture.”

“I’m very happy and excited to see it,” Macêdo said of the show. Each work, including instruments fashioned from a blender, a chair, a sink, and a lawnmower, is labeled with a comprehensive description, so visitors can learn how it was made and what it’s called. And then they can try playing it themselves (“gently,” Macêdo laughs). “People can see my heart — in my vision and in myself.”

He notes the Allens Lane gallery can fit only “half of the half” of his instruments, and he hopes this show is a starting point. He wants to mount bigger exhibitions in the future, looking to New York City, where the Recycled Sounds project began.

He hopes the project helps people become more aware of the objects they discard. If it’s trash, don’t litter; put it properly in the bin, learn to reuse and properly recycle, and teach kids to do the same.

On Sept. 14 from 4-6 p.m., Macêdo will celebrate the Allens Lane opening with a free public concert, where he’ll play alongside Philly musicians David Dzubinski on piano, Bert Harris on bass, and Jafar Barron on trumpet. The exhibition runs through Sept. 28. (The 2025 Mt. Airy Arts Festival, happening Sept. 27, is another great chance to check out the gallery.)

Macêdo looks forward to welcoming Philadelphians to experience his instruments firsthand. He says the city reminds him of his home in Salvador, and he has enjoyed developing a community here around Afro-Brazilian percussion. He hopes everyone who visits the Allens Lane show is inspired to follow their own creative visions, and learns “it’s possible to believe in you.”

“Recycled Sounds — Instruments by Dendê Macêdo,” through Sept. 28. Opening reception and free public concert Sept. 14, 4-6 p.m., Allens Lane Art Center, 601 W. Allens Lane, Mt. Airy. For more information, contact 215-248-0546 or allenslane.org.

This article is part of a partnership between Broad Street Review and the Chestnut Hill Local.