WE ARE A NON-PROFIT ASSOCIATION located in the oasis of a Natural Park, in the middle of the desert of Almeria (Andalusia). With a focus on music, nature and sustainability, our initiative is dedicated to environmental artistic education. We organize a series of activities such as routes, thematic visits and wood-workshops. Our specialty is the Wood of the Desert.
WE HIGH-LIGHT the specialness of the ecosystems of the Natural Park Karst en Yesos de Sorbas and the variety of species of fauna and flora that find shelter in this unique place, a true oasis that is threatened by the risk of the over-exploitation of water by the macro plantations of olive trees in superintensive cultivation.
WE INVITE YOU TO DISCOVER a respectful way of life, with which you can build a new educational paradigm. Our Agave House-Museum is a true example of a self-sustainable house with a special and warm atmosphere and a standard which is well adapted to the reality of the 21st century, with all the comforts of a home.
OUR UNIQUE WORK reflects more than 20 years of a life specially dedicated to the elaboration of a wide range of musical instruments and handcrafts made from Agave-wood, a true 100% sustainable resource obtained from the only desert in Europe. This material is beautiful, resistant, easy to process, with great educational value and endless posibilities….
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Asociación PITA-ESCUELA del Río Aguas
Los Molinos del Río Aguas, Buzón 88
04270 - SORBAS, Almería, España
Tlf.: +34/630 66 18 65 (Timbe)
E-Mail: pitaescuela@hotmail.com
Facebook: Pita Escuela
THE WOOD OF THE DESERT An ideal tool for environmental education
I was born in Hamburg (Germany) in 1972. I’m an artist, musician and manufacturer of musical instruments and I have been in Almería province for more than 20 years, taking advantage of the Agave wood. I study the plant in all its senses and like nobody in Europe, over the years, I have become a true multifaceted teacher.
I grew up in a family where music and travelling took an important place, and as such, I first came to Ibiza (Spain) at the age of only one. Due to my father’s work in several countries, I got to visit and live on the African continent several times until I went schooling for a year in the kingdom of Swaziland at the age of 15.
After moving from Hamburg in 1993, I settled in Almería, southern Spain, where the agave plant has been cultivated and used like nowhere else in Europe. The making of my first ‘Timbe Drum’ was the beginning of a great passion.
In February 2007 & 2008, I visited the projects of the NGO Edget Baandnet founded by my parents in 2006, a charity organization that supports vulnerable and disadvantaged children & youth, mainly in Awassa, Ethiopia. To find out more about our projects, watch, enjoy & share our Video, subtiteled in 9 languages: We Don’t Want Your Money More Information: LiveLoveAndLearn.org Also enjoy the video of the song ‘Live, Love & Learn‘, filmed in our orphanage in Awassa (Ethiopia), composed by my brother Mo Brandis, a great Jazz & Soul musician, songwriter, music producer & singer of the legendary band Incognito – UK.
One of my core projects is the founding of the Pita-School, a non-profit organization, recognized as a developement aid project for the “first world”. Offering a series of workshops and thematic routes, we invite you to discover a living example of a sustainable way of life, with which you can build a new educational paradigm, where music plays an important role…
Listen to some of my compositions, recorded in our Music-Lounge: COME BACK / THE TRAVEL / THE FEELIN’
Hola, my name is Jose. For many years now, I am connected in various ways with the opuntia (nopal) and the agave (pita) plant. I got to know Timbe in 2008, on an artesian market in San José (Almería), where I was hallucinating with the possibilities of the agave. A little bit later, I made a desert wood workshop with him in Los Molinos. This was the beginning of a great passion.
Due to my studies in the University of Alicante, I investigated a substrate obtained from the agave for the purification of water, what finally was one of the reasons for me to travel to Mexico. There, I got to know the traditional doctor from the Otomí tribe Don Miguel Trejo González, with whom I started working during the period of 8 months. In May 2011 Miguel visited the Pita-School to impart the first workshop for integral usage of the agave and opuntia.
Traveling this path, I have discovered its many uses and traditional applications. I became aware of its enormous potential as a natural, social and economic resource for many people on the planet. That’s why I feel it is important to spread this knowledge, for the benefit of mother earth and its inhabitants.
I decided to write this blog to share this important information with my family, friends and the world:
Hi, my name is Diego. I was born in Barcelona and I had my first contact with this project in August 2010 while I was traveling through southern Spain. I felt the call of the agave and as I got more and more interested in the plant, of course I ended up at Pita-School.
In the school, I got to know Timbe. I did my first intensive workshop with him, working with the wood from the desert. Together with other factors, the possibilities of this plant influenced my decision to leave my urban life and get started on a search for a higher balance in myself and my surroundings.
Nowadays, I find myself living in this oasis which is Los Molinos del Río Aguas and I am now a member of the association. As I am living in one of the village houses, the Casa El Mirador, I am as well a neighbor to Pita-School.
A new world has opened for me. We are living in a self-sufficient house, have begun work on our ecological garden and would warmly welcome you to get to know our paradise.