| Précis | In a hall in a dusty churchyard in Soweto, children - many of whom have never even heard classical music - wait patiently for their chance to pick up a violin for the first time and demonstrate their natural aptitude for music. Their gift. |
|
|
| Acclaimed British musician Rosemary Nalden started this remarkable program by chance. One morning at home in 1991, she heard a radio story about a struggling string ensemble in South Africa. In response, she and her colleagues busked at train stations across the UK, raising thousands of dollars. |
|
|
| That became the seed for a grass roots music project and saw Rosemary travel from Britain to South Africa to ultimately establish Buskaid. |
|
|
| “We're in one tiny corner of Soweto, we're in a suburb and we've got this little, tiny catchment of children coming in, and amongst those children the majority are talented." Rosemary Nalden - Director, Buskaid. |
|
|
| Mathapelo was born during the apartheid era, but is now part of the first generation to come of age in an era of unprecedented freedom and opportunity in South Africa. |
|
|
| Several Buskaid students have been accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in the UK, many others aspire to follow the same path. Music has given new hope and opportunities to hundreds of children in Soweto. |
|
| Mathapelo and friends singing | Music - Singing | 00:00 |
|
| SARA: Music is the soundtrack of daily life in Soweto. Many youngsters learn how to sing four part harmony, before they can read or write. | 00:16 |
|
| MATHAPELO MATABANE: "I mean music and Soweto, wow! | 00:28 |
| Mathapelo | It's been a healing process because music.... we sing when we're happy, we sing when we're sad. | 00:31 |
| Kids on roof | We sing when we want to just enjoy our talent really". | 00:40 |
| Mathapelo and friends singing | Music - Singing | 00:47 |
|
| SARA: It sounds almost effortless, but behind the music is a remarkable story of hard work and hope — and few embody that more than Mathapelo Matabane. MATHAPELO MATABANE: "I started off singing in church and, you know, | 00:51 |
| Mathapelo | that's where you heard all different types of music, choral music, from different age groups and that's how we all communicated. So to me music has always been a part of my life and I can't imagine life without it".
| 01:06 |
| Mathapelo singing at Buskaid rehearsal | [singing What’ll I Do] | 01:26 |
|
| "I'm in the moment. I just go into the message of the song and love the song really" | 01:50 |
|
| [singing What’ll I Do] | 01:57 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "You can feel this sort of instinct. | 02:00 |
| Rosemary | Where does this come from? Amazing. But she's almost got it more than anybody else in the room". | 02:06 |
| Mathapelo singing at Buskaid rehearsal | [singing What’ll I Do] | 02:14 |
|
| SARA: Not so long ago, a powerful voice like this may not have been heard beyond church or family gatherings. Performing on the international stage was a wild, unachievable dream but now extraordinary opportunities are dawning, thanks to an amazing project and a remarkable woman. | 02:20 |
|
| [singing What’ll I Do] | 02:41 |
|
| MATHAPELO MATABANE: "You know, I mean she saw the talent that was in Soweto and | 02:49 |
| Mathapelo. Super: | for her to bring out that music, that talent, it's just incredible that she's done that and that sacrifice that she's done. 'Cause I mean nobody told her to do it". | 02:54 |
| Mathapelo singing | [singing What’ll I Do]
| 03:09 |
| Rosemary leading rehearsal | SARA: Rosemary Nalden is an acclaimed musician who put her own career on hold to pour her energy and experience into the young musicians of the township. For almost 20 years this has been her life, a music school called Buskaid. ROSEMARY NALDEN: "It's just an abundance of riches really. | 03:13 |
| Rosemary. Super: | Somebody, somewhere up there decided that I was going to be the recipient | 03:40 |
| Rosemary leading rehearsal | of this huge gift really, and I know I moan and groan and complain but actually, you know, I am so fortunate that this happened". | 03:48 |
| Rosemary at home | Music | 04:09 |
|
| SARA: It all started in 1992 when Rosemary and her musical colleagues in London went busking to raise thousands of pounds for struggling musicians in Soweto. | 04:17 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "And then somebody said, you know, you'd be very silly | 04:34 |
| Rosemary | to send out money -- rather wisely -- out to South Africa at the moment — it's not a very good idea — why don't you go?" | 04:36 |
| Rosemary at home | SARA: Buskaid eventually started in 1997 and Rosemary has been on loan to South Africa ever since. | 04:43 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "It was supposed to be, yeah it was meant to be. | 04:55 |
| Rosemary | Whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing I mean..." SARA: "You don't get another go". ROSEMARY NALDEN: "You don't get another go, no". | 04:57 |
|
| Music | 05:04 |
| Soweto church |
| 05:11 |
|
| SARA: Buskaid provides music classes to children | 05:15 |
| Rosemary assisting with violin lesson | in Soweto who would otherwise miss out. The project has unearthed remarkable young musicians. | 05:17 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "It's so exciting and it's very moving actually. And then it becomes a sort of sharing thing because you're both working together and it's subtle and it's unspoken and it's magic". | 05:28 |
|
| SARA: Most of the children arrive never having heard classical music. Some sit on the sidelines for months waiting to be accepted to the program. What happens next is an awakening. | 05:44 |
| Rosemary | ROSEMARY NALDEN: "And that has happened time and time again in Buskaid which is really extraordinary, because you know, I always say this, we're in one tiny corner of Soweto, | 06:00 |
| Violin lesson | we're in a suburb and we've got this little tiny catchment of children coming in and amongst those children, the majority are talented". | 06:147 |
| Lesego conducting lesson |
| 06:25 |
|
| SARA: Now one generation is teaching another. 32 year old Lesego is one of the original Buskaid students. | 06:31 |
| Lesego. Super: | LESEGO MOKONOTO: "I started as a little one and now I'm helping the little ones in here and so it's just an amazing feeling". | 06:43 |
| Lesego conducting lesson |
| 06:48 |
|
| SARA: It will take up to 12 years of practise for the youngsters to reach an elite level. For those who stick with it, there are big opportunities ahead. | 06:52 |
| Lesego | LESEGO MOKONOTO: "If you've got the dedication, the will and you're determined to do it, anything is possible. Not just musically, but anything is possible". | 07:05 |
| Rehearsal | Music | 07:13 |
| Squatter camp | SARA: Soweto can still be a very tough place to grow up for some. During the depths of apartheid, it was infamous for poverty and violence. | 07:32 |
|
| Music | 07:42 |
| Archival. Protests | SARA: It was an era when young people risked their lives for freedom. In June 1976, police opened fire on thousands of school children protesting against the racist regime. LESEGO MOKONOTO: "So, yeah I mean when I see those pictures and everything I feel, | 07:46 |
| Lesego | wow, would I have been able to do that if I was, you know, back then". | 08:09 |
| Still. Parents carry child who has been shot | Music | 08:12 |
|
| MATHAPELO MATABANE: "I'm just very grateful of what they did | 08:17 |
| Mathapelo | and I'm grateful that I didn't have to go through that". | 08:19 |
| Hector Peterson memorial | Music | 08:22 |
| Kids outside memorial | SARA: The story of 1976 is sacred here. The children of today are taught about the sacrifices of the past, but life in the township is changing — more than you can imagine. | 08:26 |
| Bungee jumping at Orlando Towers | Music | 08:40 |
|
| SARA: This is the first generation to come of age in Soweto with money and freedom to spare. Life is so secure they go looking for adventure. | 08:48 |
| Mathapelo | MATHAPELO MATABANE: "Well I mean, since I was born I think it's changed dramatically. Sometimes for those... some people feel for the good, some people feel for the bad". | 08:59 |
| Bungee jumping at Orlando Towers | SARA: This place says it all. The old cooling towers of Soweto's power station, once a grim presence overshadowing a troubled neighbourhood, are not a platform for the daring to take the plunge. | 09:11 |
|
| Music | 09:27 |
|
| LESEGO MOKONOTO: "Soweto is actually a place that a lot of things are happening. | 09:34 |
| Lesego | It's not what it used to be back in the old days". | 09:37 |
| Shopping mall | Music | 09:40 |
|
| SARA: Parts of Soweto now have all the trappings of middle class suburbia. And it's no wonder. The size of South Africa's black middle class has doubled in the past ten years. LESEGO MOKONOTO: "I mean there's malls going around everywhere. | 09:44 |
|
| We even have a square now here, it's got McDonalds and everything". | 10:00 |
| Luxury cars/Wealthy shoppers | Music | 10:04 |
|
| SARA: Every weekend, Soweto's young and rich come here to Vilakazi Street. It was once the home of Nelson Mandela. Now it's a place to show off wealth. | 10:12 |
|
| Music | 10:23 |
|
| SARA: Economic figures show that black high income earners are outspending their white counterparts. | 10:28 |
|
| Music | 10:36 |
|
| LESEGO MOKONOTO: "That's not me. [laughs] That's not my type of thing. I'm quite comfortable with my little car and | 10:39 |
| Lesego | giving back to the community the way I do, socialising with people out there as well, so I'm okay, thanks".
| 10:45 |
| School children | SARA: Today's young people in Soweto are growing up against the backdrop of opportunity, yet inequality. It's very different to when Buskaid started in the 1990s. | 10:52 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "There were no phones, there were no iPods — none, none of this stuff. | 11:10 |
| Rosemary | It's a horrible thing to say, the fact that they had nothing made it easier, but it did make what we were doing easier because all they wanted to do.... they virtually lived at Buskaid. That's all they wanted to do so it was very straightforward". | 11:14 |
| Rosemary addressing students | SARA: Times have changed but Rosemary Nalden's expectations have not. Her standards are relentlessly high and there's no excuse for slacking off. ROSEMARY NALDEN: "I'm known for being | 11:29 |
| Rosemary. Super: | a huge disciplinarian and I've got worse and worse as I've got older — or better and better — it depends how you look at it". | 11:52 |
| Mathapelo | MATHAPELO MATABANE: [laughing] "Yeah, no, she's tough. She is a tough lady. I'll give you that. But yeah, no, she's a mother as well. I mean no mother would be tough on a child if they didn't love the child, so she's incredible". | 11:57 |
| Rosemary conducting rehearsal | SARA: Rosemary never had children of her own so the orchestra has become something of a family and she's become something of a mother. ROSEMARY NALDEN: "I never sort of wanted to have children for the sake of having children. | 12:12 |
| Rosemary | I'm not one for sort of feeling maternal towards a baby because it's a baby. I'm sort of more interested in the interesting bits, if you know what I mean". | 12:33 |
| Rosemary conducting rehearsal | SARA: Family history plays a big part in why she's here. | 12:46 |
| Photos. Rosemary’s father | Rosemary's father was also a brilliant musician but his early life was bleak. He was given away to an orphanage which he was only three weeks old. | 12:56 |
| Rosemary | ROSEMARY NALDEN: "I've often quoted his beginnings to my students who, you know, many of whom do come from very difficult backgrounds, but I don't think they're as tough as his. And the other thing is he never ever moaned about it. He never complained about it. He never said, well you know, I had a tough start so I'm excused for this, that and... he just got on with it". | 13:09 |
| Koketso practising in library |
| 13:31 |
|
| SARA: Some of the Buskaid students already have that raw determination. You can see it in their eyes. Eleven year old Koketso wants to become one of the best cellists in the country. | 13:39 |
| Rosemary | ROSEMARY NALDEN: "I mean, she looks very young, doesn't she? She's very small, but inside I think there's a very, very iron will and, | 13:56 |
| Koketso practising | you know, she's doing her bit". | 14:05 |
|
| SARA: Koketso has only been playing the cello for three years, but she's got just what her teachers are looking for — ability, concentration and work ethic. | 14:14 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "She's probably the most talented child that I've ever taught and I can see why. | 14:28 |
| Rosemary | The thing about Koketso is that she's got this combination, apparently, | 14:35 |
| Koketso practising | that we were talking about, of being very together and being very talented". | 14:39 |
| Koketso | SARA: "We were talking with Rosemary two days ago and she said, of all the young cello players that they've had at Buskaid, you are the most talented and hardworking. What do you think about that?" KOKETSO: "I think she's speaking the truth, she was telling the truth, because I'm like that — and at school I'm just like that". | 14:62 |
| [shot continuous] | SARA: "Do you feel proud about that?" KOKETSO: "Yes I do". | 15:20 |
| Koketso at home with grandmother | SARA: Koketso lives with her grandmother, Mavis. They don't have much money but they get by. It's a strong bond. MAVIS: "Koketso said she wants to stay with me because since birth she was here. I'm the one who was taking care because her mother was still young when she had Koketso". | 15:26 |
| Koketso and Mavis | SARA: Grandmother and granddaughter take care of each other. When Mavis's husband died last year, Koketso did her best to ease the grief.
| 15:49 |
|
| MAVIS: "I love her very much, because when her grandfather passed away she's the one who was consoling me most. Sometimes when she came from school... sitting there maybe I was crying — then when I hear her come in I just wipe my tears... and Mum, are you crying?" | 16:01 |
| Koketso arrives home from school | SARA: Koketso and Mavis share a room and a bed in the tiny house. Many of the children in Buskaid still live like this. Grandmothers, or Gogos as they're known in Zulu, are a lifeline in fractured families. "And what do you love about your Gogo? What does she do for you | 16:18 |
| Koketso and Mavis | and what kind of lady is she?" KOKETSO: "She's very sweet, and lovely". | 16:41 |
| Mavis sweeps | SARA: Mavis wants a better future for Koketso. She had her own education turned upside down by the chaos and violence of the 1976 student uprising. | 16:49 |
| Mavis | MAVIS: "In 1976 I was there. I was there. I was still at school. When you left home for school, you didn't know whether you'd get back alive. It was very difficult and sad". | 17:05 |
| Koketso in classroom | SARA: Koketso doesn't take school for granted. She's already a prize winning student who tops her class. Her dream is to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London.
| 17:20 |
| Koketso | KOKETSO: "I would like to go to university in England too." SARA: "Do you think you will?" KOKETSO: "I think so." SARA: "How hard will you need to work to get there?" KOKETSO: "Very hard. I need to work very, very hard". | 17:37 |
| Mavis | SARA: "What about for you Mavis, later if Koketso goes overseas, it sounds like you want her to have a big future but also you would miss her terribly". MAVIS: "Ah one day I will be dead. I won't go with her to the grave. If a bright future's coming for her, she must go for it. I can give her the blessings". | 17:55 |
| Church | Music - Singing | 18:20 |
|
| SARA: Despite all the changes and opportunities, there's still something about life in Soweto that's traditional and conservative.. | 18:28 |
| Mathapelo singing in church | Mathapelo is grateful for the chances she's had to travel the world with Buskaid | 18:40 |
| Photos. Mathapelo on tour | MATHAPELO MATABANE: "'We've been to Los Angeles - I think that was my first trip overseas. | 18:48 |
| Mathapelo. Super: | New York, Newhaven, Colombia, Syria, Holland, Paris, | 18:55 |
| Photos. Mathapelo on tour | London, New Zealand. Yeah, I think that's around about..." | 19:03 |
| Mathapelo singing in church | SARA: All the years of uncertainty in Soweto have left a layer of caution. Despite Mathapelo's exquisite voice, her parents insist that she has a career to fall back on. So she's a qualified interior designer. | 19:10 |
| Rosemary | "I wouldn't be designing kitchens if I sang like that, I tell you!". ROSEMARY NALDEN: "Well I know, but I mean | 19:28 |
|
| one thing I know about Mathapelo she wouldn't ever wander off into the sort of pop vocal world of, you know, she will always stay rooted in whatever she does. But I agree with you. I wouldn't be designing kitchens". | 19:33 |
| Mathapelo | MATHAPELO MATABANE: "Yes, I do have big dreams. Of course, having a family of my own and you know just instilling those values that my own parents put in me and as well as what Rosemary has done for me as well, to share it with everybody". | 19:51 |
|
| Music | 20:09 |
| Rosemary at home in garden with dog | SARA: This is a rare moment of relaxation. Rosemary gets little time to herself. But at the age of 70 she can't imagine her life without Buskaid — for better or worse. | 20:13 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "It's sort of, well what would life be like, you know, if you couldn't see and then suddenly you could see? | 20:31 |
| Rosemary | It really is like that. It's also brought a lot of stress and pain and anxiety and.... loneliness, I think because of not being with my friends and my family". | 20:36 |
| Rosemary at home in garden with dog | LESEGO MOKONOTO: "It gets hectic a lot so yeah we worry about her. | 20:49 |
| Lesego. Super: | But with Rosemary you tell her, take it easy, it's like, one more thing I just have to do first. But yeah I know, I think she's trying now to take it a bit easy but it's very difficult". | 20:57 |
| Rosemary leads rehearsal session | SARA: This is when all the practice and persistence comes together. It's only a few minutes to go until Buskaid's annual community concert in Soweto. | 21:07 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "I am an utter perfectionist. I'm a nuisance of a perfectionist. You know if I listen to a recording of a concert we've done and | 21:31 |
| Rosemary | I hear things and I think, I know that that could have been much better than it was and I will go on until it is as good as it possibly can be. But on the other hand, in a concert if something goes wrong, you have to let it go. You can't focus on that and that's quite difficult actually". | 21:42 |
| Buskaid concert | Music | 22:06 |
|
| SARA: It's a chance to soar in front of a home crowd. The audience is full of family and friends. Young Koketso has been called up to play in the senior ensemble. She knows it's a big opportunity. "Why are you | 22:23 |
| Koketso | very serious about school and music? Why do you think that is?" KOKETSO: "Because I think it can give me a more brighter future". | 22:46 |
| Buskaid concert | Music | 22:57 |
| Buskaid graduates | SARA: Two of the senior musicians have already lived out Koketso's dream and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London - a world class achievement. ROSEMARY NALDEN: "And I went | 23:03 |
| Rosemary | to their graduation and I can't tell you, I mean, you know talk about emotion, that... that was... | 23:14 |
| Buskaid concert | it was a wonderful moment". | 23:19 |
| Mathapelo sings | Music - Singing | 23:34 |
| Soweto sunset/Bungee jumping/Shopping mall |
| 23:53 |
| Mathapelo sings |
| 24:24 |
|
| SARA: These young musicians have boundless talents and opportunities. They are deeply grateful to the woman who believed in their potential. | 25:29 |
| Buskaid concert continues | Music - Singing | 25:39 |
|
| ROSEMARY NALDEN: "There's something going on, isn't there? | 25:49 |
| Rosemary | There is something going on and it's sort of much bigger than all of us and it has transformed the lives of quite a number of people and I think, well I'm just lucky. It's been hard work but it just fell, literally, at a particular point in my life | 25:50 |
| Buskaid concert continues | and in their lives and in the life of this country". | 26:13 |
| Mathapelo sings | Music - Singing | 26:20 |
|
| Further information |
|
|
| Reporter: Sally Sara | 26:38 |