This organisation runs a highly successful string music school in Soweto

Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble, is made up of young people from this beautiful township, with an interesting history behind it.

It was founded at Diepkloof zone 3, about 31 years ago, with the aim of offering high quality string training to underprivileged young people.

In an interview with the Mail and Guardian, its founder Rosemary Nalden explained that the reason she started the organisation was to explore the talents these young South Africans had but didn’t know they had or couldn’t cultivate it.

“Back in the 1990s when I came to South Africa I stayed because I saw something special. I cannot put it into words, oftentimes I find myself welling up during practice sessions just hearing how well the sounds come together. South Africans do not know the talent they are sitting on and how valuable it is,” Nalden said.

Buskaid has been the only South African orchestra to have played at the BBC Proms, an eight week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts held annually at the Royal Albert Hall in London, according to report.

The report further revealed that the ensemble has also been named as one of the world’s 10 most inspirational orchestras in the UK’s Gramophone Magazine. While the team has travelled to the UK, France, the US, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany to perform on some of the world’s iconic stages such as the Cité de la Musique museum in Paris. She said she believes that Buskaid has helped to keep young people out of mischief and given
them opportunities.

Nalden is British viola player who believed that these young people had what it takes to be stars. The organisation also runs a highly successful string teacher-training programme, and nine of its eleven teachers are drawn from within its student membership.

Editor’s note: If we give ourselves the chance to explore and showcase our talents, we enable the power to realising and living our dreams. This is the lesson I learned from Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble’s story.

Description: Buskaid has been the only South African orchestra to have played at the BBC Proms, an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts held annually at the Royal Albert Hall in London, according to report.

Editor: Thato Mahlangu
Project manager: Do4SA