Africa

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

Concert at Your Door: Moments of Solidarity between Eswatini Students and Korean Musicians during Lockdown

08-05-2020

The lingering pandemic has reminded us how capable we are of influencing each other’s lives. We have seen that without kindness, love, and patience, we can never achieve true justice and unity in our global society. In these past months of solitude, communities are naturally turning to music as a universal language, sending love, hope, and empathy to people all over the world. In the small, landlocked southern African country of Eswatini, we have witnessed miraculous moments of solidarity between musicians in South Korea and Eswatini through our program, Africa Ntjilo Empowerment.

Positive Fatalism and Social Music Projects in Kinshasa, DR Congo

07-01-2020

In Kinshasa, the majority of the population, which is close to 10 million, subsists on less than 2 USD a day—and this is in a place where life, at best, is expensive. Many people live in excruciating poverty. They exist in survival mode. Disease, hunger, and death are omnipresent. There is little prospect of improvement; on the contrary, the standard of living appears to be worsening for millions of people in Kinshasa. On top of the struggle to survive, they must also reckon with politicians, police, and soldiers, who may harass or rob them, or worse.

Musicians Without Borders: Rwanda Youth Music

06-01-2020

Those conditions of safety, inclusion, creativity, equality, and quality guide Musicians Without Borders’ methodology for facilitating music-making. Musicians Without Borders uses the power of music for social change and peacebuilding, working in communities around the world affected by war and armed conflict.

Bringing the Joy of Music to Children of Johannesburg

05-04-2020

The Music Enlightenment Project (MEP) is a community-based initiative in the heart of Braamfontein, Johannesburg, with the vision of a world where the lives of all children are transformed and enriched through music education.

The Ubuntu Music Program: Strengthening Community through Music and Athletics

04-02-2020

The Playing For Change Foundation has been working in Rwanda since 2011, using music and sports as tools for positive change and education. Ubuntu is a Bantu word that means “humanity towards others”; the Ubuntu Philosophy is a humanist concept that could be summed up as “I am because we are,” and is based on the idea that there is a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. This way of thinking inspired the name of our program in Rwanda: the Ubuntu Music Program.

The World’s Youth Call for “Arts for Humanity”

03-04-2020

Sinai, Egypt is a fascinating place. Sitting between Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, it exists “where civilizations meet.” This theme echoed throughout the halls of the International Congress Center in Sharm El Sheikh last December during the World Youth Forum.

Key Learning from the Field: Trust and Empower Your Community

01-07-2020

In the summer of 2014, I arrived on a rainforest island called Pohnpei, in Micronesia (a country in the region of Oceania) to teach high school English. When the school lacked the resources to enable students to explore their passions for music and basketball, the students and I started looking for solutions. This initiative evolved into The International Sports and Music Project (ISMP), an organization that uses sports and music as powerful tools for mental health.

The Ambassadors’ Exchange, July 2019

07-02-2019

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Safaricom Youth Orchestra

07-02-2019

The Safaricom Youth Orchestra (SYO) is a flagship project of Safaricom Company Ltd., Kenya’s leading mobile phone company, and managed by the Art of Music Ltd. on behalf of the company.  The orchestra is committed to its mission of ‘establishing a youth ensemble that presents the best in personal and collective discipline and development through orchestral music performance’.

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