News24 | WATCH | A Soweto orchestra’s last push to save the music

Buskaid is music school offering young people the opportunity to learn to play string instruments such as the violin, cello and double bass.

• In 1992, UK-born Rosemary Nalden founded Buskaid, an organisation providing classical musical education for youth in Diepkloof, Soweto.
• For the last 27 years, Buskaid has grown from just teaching youth in Diepkloof how to play stringed instruments, to one that has its own string ensemble that has travelled internationally several times and even performed for late President Nelson Mandela.
• Despite their world-class achievements, the organisation now faces an uncertain future as their funding dwindles.

In a nondescript brick building in the Soweto suburb of Diepkloof, lies a staple in the community – a music school offering young people the opportunity to learn to play string instruments such as the violin, cello and double bass.

Buskaid’s journey began in 1991 when UK-born founder and director Rosemary Nalden, 81, heard on the BBC about “a group of young musicians in Soweto playing stringed instruments”.

Moved by their shared passion for classical music she told News24 about how she convinced her colleagues in London “to go out into British railway stations and busk” to raise funds for them.

The initiative was successful, and inspired the name Nalden would later use for her organisation.

Not satisfied with just sending money, she flew to South Africa to meet the group and this initial meeting led to her making several trips to the country and founding Buskaid in 1992; interestingly in a time rife with political instability, and conversely a time which many white people were fleeing.

What was supposed to be a short trip to South Africa, soon turned into a decades-long passion.

There was a buzz in the community about the new music school that had been opened and in 1999, when Keabetswe Goodman was 9, she developed an interest in an instrument she admits to News24 she “had no idea” what it was – the violin.

Undeterred, Goodman sought out the school and has spent the better part of her life playing the violin.

Now 35, Goodman divides her time as a violin teacher at Buskaid and working part-time as a musician in Buskaid’s String Ensemble and even performing as part of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Buskaid, like many organisations now, is experiencing a funding crisis.

For the first time in its 27-year history, Nalden admits they’re not sure if they can continue, “it’s a dire situation at the moment and it’s very sad […] we’ve never been in the situation that we are now. We are right at the end, at the bottom of our funding.”

To raise funds and appeal to a larger audience there’s a concert this Sunday in Johannesburg, incorporating a mix of classical sounds from Telemann, Hubay and adding a fresh twist inspired by the young members in the ensemble - amapiano.

The concert is not just a way to showcase their talent; it’s a way for them to get some crucial financial support or they may unfortunately be hitting their last note.

If you have a good story to tell, email feelgood@news24.com.