• Indian brass band prepares for the wedding season

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    A musician from the Rajan Band, also known as Kotla Mubarakpur, stretches out a red sheet before having it adorned as his dress, prior to performing at a wedding on November 22 in New Delhi, India.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    A member of the Rajan Band watches a colleague have his head dress adjusted.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    Members of the Rajan Band wait for a bus as they travel to perform at a wedding.

    Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

    A musician from the Rajan Band holds on to a decorated horse as he and others wait at a set of traffic lights, prior to performing at a wedding.

    India's wedding season peaks from late October to early December as couples choose to wed in these auspicious months, Getty Images reports. Many musicians are lured to Delhi from neighboring states to work for the popular traditional brass bands that play during weddings. The twenty musicians of the Rajan Band are paid the equivalent of $8 a day, working long hours to fulfil demand, whilst the band owner charges clients the equivalent of $520 per wedding.

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  • Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    A member of a brass band holds a tattered sheet of music at a local school in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi on October 16, 2010.

    Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    Seventeen-year-old Steve Odieno (R) warms up his trumpet in a corner before a presentation at a local corporate function in Nairobi on October 19, 2010. Odieno, who was born and raised in Western Kenya, is the eldest of five siblings and came to live in Nairobi with his father and to look for better quality schooling.

    Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    Seventeen-year-old Steve Odieno blows into a trumpet during band practice at a local school in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi on October 16, 2010. Odieno, who was born and raised in Western Kenya, is the eldest of five siblings and came to live in Nairobi with his father and to look for better quality schooling. Through a local church, Steve joined the "Ghetto Classics" about a year ago.

    Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    Young children watch as older kids play in brass band practice at a local school in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi on October 16, 2010.

    Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    Kennedy Odhiambo blows into the banged up tuba assigned to him during a presentation by his band during a corporate event in Nairobi on October 19, 2010.

    Roberto Schmidt / AFP-Getty Images

    Seventeen-year-old Steve Odieno (C) walks through his neighborhood as he heads home after school in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi on October 18, 2010.

    Music to empower the youth

    AFP Photographer Roberto Schmidt photographed kids involved in a project in Korogocho, Nairobi called "Ghetto Classics" that uses music to empower the youth there. The brass band group is comprised of some 25 kids that only gets to practice every two weeks as the musical instruments they use are borrowed and there are not enough funds to pay the band director more often. The Ghetto Classics Project is a partnership between the Art of Music and the Kutoka Network - a network of parishes and organizations working in the urban slums, working to creates policies and new plans to help slum dwellers work their way out of poverty. Its purpose is to use music education to provide youth living in the slum with opportunities to better themselves and their community by giving them life skills that come with the discipline of studying art music.
    Mr. Schmidt said he, "was really happy when I heard that you guys wanted to do this slide show. I really hope that someone in the wider audience is affected by it and would be willing to help out this outfit. They are truly good kids who are making an honest effort." See more photos here.

    Click 'Show more' below to watch the video.