Music leads SA students to China
HEADED EAST: Hilton College Music Department have made South Africa proud as they head to Asia for a concert next month. HEADED EAST: Hilton College Music Department have made South Africa proud as they head to Asia for a concert next month.
HOW many South African music students can say they had the opportunity to tour and perform at a one-of-a-kind festi- val on the Asian continent? I’m guessing the numbers are very low.
Some of the lucky few are KZN’s Hilton College boys as they will be experiencing a whole new world of arts and culture in China and Dubai during the school holidays next month.
I chatted to the head of the music department at Hilton College, Brett Udal, about this amazing opportunity that has come their way: “Last year, we were approached by an organi- sation called China Stars – World Youth Tutti Festival to participate in this event.
“There are participants from around the world, mostly from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. And in terms of the World Youth Tutti Festival, it’s a platform where musicians are invited to perform in master classes with top international tutors and we basically arrive there and we perform as we can.
“There’s also a forum in the evening. We bring our own programme, but there are master classes, workshops and concert opportunities. What’s unique in our situation is that we are taking 50 boys from our department from choirs to string orchestras to jazz bands, marimba band and so on.”
The festival will run from July 5 to 13 in Beijing. But before all the fun starts in China, the Hilton College team are stopping over at the Ductac theatre in the Mall of Emirates in Dubai on July 4 where they will perform an exclusive African music programme entitled An African Kaleidoscope.
“We felt that on our stopover, it would be worth it to perform to the local community.
“We have a few boys who are from Dubai and it’s a wonderful opportunity to experience Dubai and also gain exposure for our school in Asia. Our African programme consists of the township kwela music.
“And there are two mass items, we’ll perform: Weeping by Bright Blue which has traditional African instruments such the uhadi bows and drum shakers. So there’s an African rainbow sequence to capture the essence of Africa and we end the concert with Mango Groove’s Special Star,” says Udal.
The director of marketing at Hilton College, Paul Guthrie, picks up: “It’s going to be very African-orientated and the music includes one version of the South African national anthem combined with the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
According to Guthrie, it’s not only about the music and the performing. It’s also an educational tour and the boys will learn about different cultures from across the world.
He elaborates: “We talk about the renaissance of Africa. People there will be intrigued by the wonderful African music we will demonstrate and we will be representing Africa which gives us the opportunity to showcase our African music from Hilton College.
“Our students need to be exposed to everything and when you have people from different countries involved in a variety of art forms, that can only be a positive and enriching experience.”