It’s this time of year again! It’s time for our annual Peace Day Music Project! Five schools will once again participate in what will be the greatest event of the school year!
In cooperation with the Rhodes University Department of Music and Musicology represented by Corinne Cooper and the Sonic Art Studio represented by local hip-hop artist Zukani, a backing will be produced and learners will be trained to perform and write their own lyrics. Over a nine-week period, we will have music as well as awarenet classes before our learners’ popstar potential is being tested during the annual Peace Day Concert on the 21st of September. A professional jury and an excited crowd will then vote for the best Peace Day Song and further individual awards will be given to the best rapper and singer. It will be an amazing experience for most of them since all the songs will be recorded for a CD as well and the winner will be able to shoot their own music video.
The schools participating in the project this year are Ntaba Maria PS, Archie Mbolekwa Senior PS, C.M. Vellem PS, Good Shepherd PS and Seven Days Adventist PS including learners from Grade 7 to 9. So far, the different groups have started writing their first lyrics and assigning rappers and singers for the choire. Our learners are super enthusiastic and talented, many bringing songtexts to the musical training which they have written in their free time. Slowly but surely everyone is starting to feel comfortable around each other and there is only a few shy ones left who don’t want to sing in front of the others. Therefore, a huge part of our training consists of helping our learners develop the self confidence to stand on a stage and sing and perform in front of a huge crowd. They all have amazing voices and entertainer potential, they just need to believe in themselves. And that’s what we are here for.
Throughout the project, there will be lots of posts, photos and short video clips coming up so stay tuned for the latest news!