Media Release - Celebrate Heritage Day 2010 with R.Y.T.H.M

On Thursday, 23rd September at 20h00 R.Y.T.H.M (Reaching Youth Through Music) together with the Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch will be hosting Duke Ngcukana and his band, musician and cultural purveyor Errol Dyers, Johannesburg-based trumpeter Feya Faku, as well as jazz vocalist extraordinaire Gloria Bosman.

R.Y.T.H.M was formed in 2009; the group, largely made up of students from the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, aims to celebrate local jazz legends, but most importantly endeavors to help the youth discover our rich musical heritage.

For this year's event, R.Y.T.H.M is largely funded by the South
African-Norwegian music corporation, MMINO.

The program for this year's concert will be particularly special as we pay tribute to three legends; Winston Mankunku, Robbie Jansen and Ezra Ngcukana, who recently passed away.

The concert will be held in conjunction with music and cultural workshops on Heritage Day,  24 September 2010, facilitated by Little Giants director, George Werner. Workshops will focus on the history of jazz in South Africa, the personal stories and experience of South African Jazz Legends, as well as showcasing South African Jazz Music.

R.Y.T.H.M will provide transport for 120 children from high schools on the Cape Flats to the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Tickets for the Our Music concert are available at Computicket: R80 for adults and R60 for students/pensioners.

For more info, please contact
Monique van Willingh
Cell no: 072 1777 441
email:rythmsa@gmail.com

R.Y.T.H.M Jazz Legends Concert 2009

R.Y.T.H.M Jazz Legends Concert
Baxter Theatre,Rondebosch, Cape Town
Heritage Day, 24 September 2009

R.Y.T.H.M Profiles

Monique van Willingh

Since the year 2000 Monique has been performing on stage, whether be it for Wind band, Orchestra or jazz bands. Starting out at Beau Soleil Music Center thus becoming the principal flautist of the senior wind band and symphony orchestra.

While at Sans Souci Girl’s High she received awards every year for outstanding performance in music and was awarded full music and academic colours. In her matric year she received second place prize at the Beau Soleil Matric solo competition and also conducted the wind band, which received a distinction in an eisteddfod under her leadership.

She has participated in the ABSA National Youth solo competition which was held in Port Elizabeth and she has completed her grade 8 Royal Schools qualification. She was selected as the Principal Flautist of the MIAGI Youth Orchestra, which toured Germany, as well as a finalist of the FMR Competition (Jazz Category).

Linda Tshabalala

Linda Tshabalala has been a performer for the past six years, starting out at the Music Academy of Gauteng in Benoni. With this school’s big band she backed some of the best musicians in South Africa; the likes of Hugh Masekela, S’bongile Khumalo, Gloria Bosman, Barney Rachabane, and a host of others.

She has also travelled with this big band to Holland and Sweden, on a tour promoting South African music in 2003. In 2004 she had the privilege of performing at the now defunct IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators).

In 2006 she performed in South Korea for six months with fellow musicians at the Intercontinental Hotel. In 2009 she was selected as one of only 12 participants of the Jazz Legends Course, in which the participants learnt about their South African Jazz Heritage. She is currently busy with her third year of studies at the UCT College of music. And is also part of the R.Y.T.H.M executive team that is organising the Cape Town venture of the project.

Candice Martin

Candice Martin is currently studying at the University of Cape Town aiming to finish her BMUS studies at the end of 2009. She is studying with Fardia Bacharova and has been a member of the South African National Youth Orchestra since 2005. I n 2006 the orchestra travelled to Germany to participate in the Beethoven festival. She is also a member of the UCT Symphony orchestra and the UCT string ensemble.

She is the leader of Intermezzo String Quartet which frequently performs at weddings and corporate functions in and around the Western Cape. The quartet has been playing together for the past five years.

Recently Candice has been involved in improving the awareness of South African music. Being on the planning committee of R.Y.T.H.M (Reaching Youth through Music) and the Bow Exchange Project, an exchange of musical ideas between Western and African Bows.

Lwanda Gogwana

Lwanda Gogwana is from East London, South Africa. He started his music career by picking up the trumpet, piano and sung in the school choir at the tender age of 7 years. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cape Town, having majored in composition and also studied at the University of Oslo Norway, in Europe (2006). The latter was on a Scholarship programme.

He has been a member of the National Youth Jazz band in 2007 and 2008; a UCT Big band member for 4 consecutive years

Project Team

We are a group of music students from the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town who are passionate about our South African Jazz Heritage. We are committed to enriching the lives of young people by exposing them to the music of their rich cultural heritage.

Monique van Willingh
Candice Martin
Linda Tshabala
Lwanda Gogwana
Ethan Smith
Spha Mdlalose
Thandi Ntuli
Babalwa Mpulu
Siya Charles
Adele Wyngaard

Contact

Monique van Willingh
E-mail: monique.vanwillingh@gmail.com

Candice Martin
E-mail: candicemartin004@yahoo.com

About R.Y.T.H.M

Background

"Our music" was borne out of meetings that were held by young and dynamic people in 2009 who were eager to see the change that they wanted become a reality. This change was for the development of serious music (Jazz) within the disadvantaged community and in the formal music education institutions, especially the development and cultivation-preservation of South African jazz.

The dream was inspired by a South African music workshop that two of the executive members had been selected to attend in 2009 in Hout bay; Cape Town. Having had the pleasure of experiencing the power of music, "Our Music", through master classes with greats such as Feya Faku, Robbie Jansen, Hilton Schilder and others.

Being aspiring musicians ourselves we know the grave situation of the arts in our country and have experienced some cruelties which must be curbed for the generations to come, if we really want to see our industry manifest abundantly. These are but some of the disparities which "Our Music" intends to correct, so that we not only fix things for ourselves but for the greater good of the industry.

The change has to begin somewhere and we have chosen that it must start with us. We've seen how many of the festivals and events organised by non-musicians continue even to this day to either fail the musicians completely or fail music, because so many of them don’t know what it takes to bring the music out to the people and take musicians for granted.

This is a skill acquired by many, but rarely respected. The education system has to this day not realised the fact that an academics orientated only system fails some of the students who are creative in mind. For a long time the matriculant has had no option but to give up on education if he/she does not excel in academia. If only our education system were to allow for music to be taken as a subject in public schools around the country; firstly the high unemployment rate would be curbed and the high rate of failures in Grade 12 would be minimised by a huge margin.

We still have a long way to go and a big gap to fill but we are determined to see the change through, because if we can move our government to change its ways we will have won half the battle.

As the R.Y.T.H.M (Reaching Youth Through Music) team continues to grow and expand beyond our imaginations, more young and dynamic people will join the original members of the executive to lend their resources and time. This will help to ensure that the music industry grows, and up and coming artists face a better future.

Objectives of R.Y.T.H.M

As students, we feel that there is not enough emphasis being placed on the music that comes from our own South African heritage. Through the "Our Music" project, we hope to educate and expose young people to this music, and thereby ignite in them a curiosity and interest in their own heritage.

1. To educate a minimum of 5000 High School learners about South African History through the life stories and music of South African Jazz Legends.
2. To promote further studies at University Institutions, and particularly in music.
3. To bring high school learners from disadvantaged communities in and around Cape Town to the South African College of Music and the Baxter Theatre to participate in workshops and experience music from their own South African Jazz Heritage.

We aim to provide transport for young people from key disadvantaged communities to the Baxter Theatre for the concert.

Social Objectives

Young people today face many issues such as poverty, gangsterism and substance abuse. We believe that the Arts, and specifically music, is an effective way of drawing the youth to a life of meaning and purpose.

"Our Music" is an initiative that creates an opportunity for young people, both high school students and university students, to learn from South African jazz legends. We feel that there is still so much to learn from these legends, their journey through Apartheid, how it affected their music, their compositions and their playing style. We realise that too often we have looked to other countries for music heroes and have neglected our highly talented artists' right here in South Africa.

We hope to encourage young musicians to follow their dreams, but at the same time discover their own rich heritage.

Young people who might never have experienced a live concert, will get the opportunity to not only enjoy a concert but possibly meet the artists.

By meeting and speaking to the Jazz Legends who might have grown up in their own communities, young people will realise that they can do anything they put their minds to.