Asia

Exciting things have been happening every day this month at Ghetto Classics. We had 4 two-week camps take place. First was the Ghetto Classics Mukuru kwa Ruben, a music program in Nairobi. The kids have grown a lot during the last camp performance.

For the fifth year in a row, El Sistema Japan held its annual event, the Children’s Music Festival, in the Japanese city of Soma (in the Fukushima prefecture), where the Sistema-inspired Soma program for orchestra and chorus started seven years ago.  The celebration took place on March 23 and 24 at Soma Civic Concert Hall.

Zohra and Dream Orchestras met two days before the concert to rehearse, eat, and laugh together. The young musicians had many experiences to share. One just came from his homeland, while another escaped four years ago. One took an instrument instead of a weapon to fight for what she loves, while another chose to migrate.

In 2011, three orchestras were formed by government support through the Orchestra of Dream project. The students in the orchestras had almost no musical experience. However, with the commitment and dedication of the teaching artists and music directors, the students learned to love and enjoy music. The beginning of the Orchestra of Dream project was small, but now it has grown to serve more than 2,700 youths across South Korea.

On 9 February, the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY), led by their conductor Joshua Dos Santos, performed a pre-Valentine’s Day concert titled “Musika at Misyon” (Music and Mission) at the Sun Life Amphitheater in the BGC Arts Center in Taguig, Metro Manila. They played an eclectic mix of pieces, from classical works such as Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 8 and Wagner’s Rienzi Overture, to fun pieces such as the “Mission Impossible” theme and “Mambos” by Toussaint and Perez Prado, as well as classic Filipino favorites. What made this concert special was that for a few pieces, the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth and the Ang Misyon Children’s Orchestra performed as one ensemble for the first time.

The Sistema-inspired program Ang Misyon, in the Philippines, has announced new leadership as of January 2019.  Maestro Joshua Dos Santos is the Music Director, Marianne Quebral is Director for Partnerships and Networking, and Shirley Cruz is now the Executive Director.

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In the dictionary, “home” means the house of a family. We all know the importance of having a place to call home, to bring together all people in one place, and, in Sistema, to make the musicians of an ensemble feel more like a family.

Sistema Whangarei/Toi Akorangi students mostly come from the local Maori community, with Pakeha (white Europeans) and some Asian students, and the program lives by practices that resonate with ancient Maori values, finding approval with the elders. We know that there are more invisible barriers for many in our community, so we continue to inquire into our practices and seek to create the perfect place for all students. With a modest budget, and modest number of tutors, our program relies on young volunteers.  Partnering with Whangarei Girls High School, we have researched the benefits to the young leader of being a teacher or tutor. We use the community terms tuakana for the young leader and teine for the younger learner.

For those who read about (or joined virtually with) the hundreds of teaching artist delegates from 26 countries at the ITAC4 (Fourth International Teaching Artist Conference) at Carnegie Hall in New York last September, the dates of ITAC5 have just been announced.  The Orchestra of Dreams, South Korea’s remarkable El Sistema program, will be featured prominently, because ITAC5 will happen in Seoul on 15-17 September 2020, hosted by KACES, the South Korean government’s arts education agency (Korea Arts & Culture Education Service).