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The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
 
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Women in African Music

07-21-2021

The organization Sounds of Africa organized a virtual museum celebrating “Women in African Music,” using the photography of British-Nigerian artist Michael Tubes. The exhibition shared photos of African women musicians, taken over the past ten years, in order to “highlight, celebrate and empower the challenges faced by women within the industry.”

Celebrating the Potential of Our Vulnerable Communities at M-LISADA

Bosco Segawa, Founder, M-LISADA Organization

07-07-2021

Music attracts and connects otherwise unreachable hearts. And for children from the streets, it has the ability to soothe souls, provide comfort, and offer hope for the future. At M-LISADA Organization (Music Life Skills And Destitution Alleviation), a Ugandan registered NGO in the heart of the Katwe slums on the outskirts of Kampala, we serve those children with music education that celebrates their possibilities.

AfroCharts Connects Listeners with New Music from African Artists

06-16-2021

A new streaming platform aims to give aspiring African artists a chance to earn money without the big record deal. Founder Leonard Novati saw a correspondence between less globalized African regions and the absence of new artistic voices from those regions, prompting him to create AfroCharts. Now, artists all over Africa can upload their songs and make money directly while engaging with their fan base. It’s an innovative approach to the oversaturated streaming market, one that uniquely amplifies the listener-and-artist relationship. Read more about the founder and start-up story via Techpoint.

The UKUSA Arts Programme: Four Decades of Transformation in South Africa

Debbie Mari, Lecturer, School of Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Project Manager, UKUSA Arts Programme

06-02-2021

As in many countries the world over, the immediate future of music education in South Africa is uncertain. Funding priorities are moving away from the arts, a universal problem brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic. South Africa exemplifies this dilemma. It is a nation of diverse people, cultural practices, and musical traditions, with a rich history of community music-making. But its economic disparities have made formal music education almost inaccessible beyond private education or community arts projects and programs; it needs new approaches to teaching, learning, and sharing that properly acknowledge and utilize this diversity. Fortunately, there are some precedents for such new approaches—prominent among them, the UKUSA Arts Programme, previously housed at the University of Natal (UN).

Bridging Divides at the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra Company

Nicki Güleş, Assistant Editor: News and Investigations, Sunday Times (South Africa); volunteer parent, Johannesburg Youth Orchestra Company

05-05-2021

If you stroll through the University of Johannesburg’s campus on a Tuesday night, you will hear strains of music floating over the evening air, from Mascagni to Dvorak and Faure to Mozart.

Those sounds are the work of the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra, the senior ensemble of the Johannesburg Youth Orchestra Company (JYOC) whose members range from primary school children to students in their 20s. The young musicians come from all over the city and province, from all races, classes, and income groups in a country with the greatest wealth gap in the world.

Leadership Opportunities for Young People in Africa

04-21-2021

AfterSchoolAfrica (aSA) has compiled a list of 25 global leadership opportunities for people ages 18–40 in Africa.

Instilling Cultural Pride and Self-Belief in Cape Town’s Youth

Thomas Duncan, Programs Manager, Playing For Change Foundation

04-07-2021

Predominately Black townships surrounding Cape Town, South Africa are still recovering and rebuilding after the devastating effects of Apartheid. Segregated communities, limited economic opportunities, and poor educational resources compound each other and block youth from determining their own futures. It was in this context that Playing For Change Foundation (PFCF) established its first music program at a secondary school in the township of Gugulethu, which comprises a mainly Black population in the Western Cape district, in 2010. Six years later, we officially established the Imvula Music Program, operating free of charge at different elementary and secondary schools across the Gugulethu, Philippi, and Nyanga townships outside of Cape Town.

Arts Education and Human Capability

Patrick Kabanda, Undercover Artist and Well-Tempered Non-Economist; author of Creative Wealth of Nations

03-03-2021

Knowledge, as widely understood, is the engine of modern economic progress. In that sense, education, as part of knowledge, is a driver of economic development. That’s why the idea of “human capital” augmentation is preached so widely in development discourse.

“I Can and I Will”: Making Beautiful Music at Open Air School

Maxine Matthews, Project Manager, Durban Music School

03-03-2021

The Open Air School in Durban, South Africa is a long-standing institution offering education to learners who have physical impairments, from pre-primary through grade 12. Their motto, “I can and I will,” is how I have come to know each child I meet at the school. Nothing is beyond their reach or capability.

A Musical and Communal Journey in Lesotho and South Africa

John Minnaar, teacher and conductor, Maseru Preparatory School

01-06-2021

The story of music education as a catalyst for social change in South Africa and Lesotho is long and complicated. The history of human struggle and social unrest in southern Africa is well documented, but it gave birth to a new era of growth and potential for its people. One might say that in the wake of South Africa’s newfound freedom from Apartheid, democracy opened many doors to Black South Africans. Within that greater context, I share my own musical journey as a snapshot of three decades of music, equity, and opportunity in South Africa and Lesotho.

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