A heady mix of dance and music: Buskaid performs in the UK (Photo: Chris Christodoulou)

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Buskaid celebrates 10 years A special Heritage Day concert is being held to celebrate 10 years of Buskaid. From a small group of 15 students practising in a pastor's office, the school has grown to 70, and has its own premises. September 20, 2007 By Millicent Kgowedi IT'S a double celebration for Buskaid this year as the musicians celebrate their 10th anniversary on Heritage Day in a special concert highlighting a sophisticated selection of music and dance. Heritage Day is recognised nationally on Monday, 24 September and Buskaid will perform on the day at the Linder Auditorium, on the University of the Witwatersrand's education campus in Parktown. "What better way to celebrate an important day like Heritage Day than at a good concert?" asked Lesego Mokonoto, Buskaid's concert organiser. Buskaid is a Soweto music school that offers tuition to less privileged township youngsters. In the past decade the project has grown into one of South Africa's cultural assets, with international standards of teaching and performance. It began as a little project in a priest's office, with 15 students. It now boasts its own music school in Diepkloof Zone 3, in Joburg's south, and 70 students. Buskaid plays for the BBC Proms (Photo: Chris Christodoulou) All 70 will celebrate their achievements at the special concert, which will include highlights of the project since its inception. The audience can expect great performances of Rameau dance in collaboration with Dance For All, an initiative similar to Buskaid but based in Cape Town. The performance took audiences by storm at the BBC Proms in London in July. It would be repeated for a South African audience on Heritage Day, together with Dance For All, Mokonoto said. Four virtuoso soloists from the ensemble will also perform at the concert. They include cellist Innocentia Diamond and her brother, Samson, who will perform Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Samson Diamond recently graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Another student from the British college, Kabelo Motlhomi, will play Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro. Violinist Simiso Radebe will give a Gypsy rendition of Lehár's Hungarian Fantasie. A tribute to Edvard Grieg by Chevalier St Georges, who is known as the Black Mozart, will end the concert. This year marks the centenary of Grieg's death. The Buskaid concert is at 3.30pm at the Linder Auditorium on Monday, 24 September. Tickets are available at Computicket and prices range from R100 to R40. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za