Sunday, 5 February 2012, 15.00h

"... an opportunity for South African youth to grow through music" 

The word 'Melodi' is SeTswana for 'whistling'. From a young age, we learn to make this sound - one of our first attempts at music and for some the only way they will be able to express themselves musically.

Melodi Music was founded by Nimrod Moloto in 2002. The scheme is based in a church in the Pimville area of Soweto and currently supports students between the ages of seven and twenty. The children start by playing recorders before progressing to instruments in the woodwind family, with the more advanced pupils receiving one-to-one tuition every week. Since the beginning of 2005 through sponsorship and donations in kind, Melodi Music Trust has been able to advance students to flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, violins, cellos and double basses.

The project’s teachers are professional musicians working in nearby Johannesburg, as well as visiting teachers from overseas who stay to work with the project for extended periods. Melodi offers the children a secure, safe environment in which to work while aiming to provide much more than music education.

There are regular discussions of the many problems facing so many teenagers in Soweto, and the children are encouraged to aim high in life and do so with confidence and a wonderfully positive attitude. These are young people who know they have a contribution to make. The Melodi Music Ensemble performs regularly, both in South Africa and abroad. In addition to their annual showcase performance at the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, they have performed at numerous concerts, functions and community projects in Johannesburg. In December 2007, the Melodi Music Ensemble was invited to perform at The Hague Conservatoire and Amsterdam Bachzaal, and they also toured Germany and the UK with huge success, including performances in London (South Bank Centre), Manchester and Bristol.

www.melodimusic.org.za