Final Day

After a morning off, we all said goodbye to our hosts and left for Durban Music School. There we met our friends from Siyakhula Music Centre and set up for this evening's concert.  The concert was a memorial event for our dear friend Brian Thusi, who died almost a year ago.  We were very much guest of honour and were given a 40 minute set at the start of the second half.  We were also treated to amazing performances from the Siyakhula Jazz Band, Big Band, Choir and dancers.  The event was due to run from 4pm to 6pm but actually started at 5pm and finished at 9pm! There were many moving tributes to Brian and some brilliant South African musicians.

We eventually left for the airport and arrived shortly before 11pm to find that we cannot check in properly until 5am.  The youngsters seem very happy having an airport to themselves and are finding creative ways of keeping themselves;ves busy.

Highlights from Brian Thusi Memorial Concert

This was a very busy and exhausting day, starting with a trip to KwaNdengezi Primary School in one township, where we did workshops and gave an outdoor concert, followed by a visit to Siyakhula Music Centre in Umlazi, where we performed but were also performed to and shared some music making together.

They gave us a warm welcome and we enjoyed watching some great Zulu dancing and gumboot dancing, as well as some superb township jazz.

UShaka and Hillcrest High

Today was a relatively relaxing day with the morning and afternoon spent at uShaka water park right next to the beach. We then went back to Hillcrest High School to give a public concert that was very well attended. The audience were very enthusiastic and the show went very well.

Photos to follow...

Steven Davison Primary School

Our convoy of 6 vehicles departed Hillcrest High first thing this morning; travelling in convoy to the Township 'Valley of a Thousand Hills' - an absolutely stunning setting of lush vegetation and steep hillside tracks. The school we were visiting was built by 'Lions Raw', a charity promoting education in impoverished communities.

All of the Haringey Young Musicians responded well to the challenge of engaging in interactive workshops with the delightful children, exploring some of the issues relevant to the community. Later in the day, the ensembles performed an outdoor concert to the school children, with the beautiful hillside scenery providing a stunning backdrop. The children were thrilled to hear and see the performances, and also fascinated by the all the equipment and instruments involved in the performance. Musicians from the stage band obliged by showing the children their instruments and giving them the chance to try them out.

Hillcrest High School

Today, HYM enjoyed a lovely visit to Hillcrest High School in the cool, hilly suburbs of Durban. After warming up and conducting the necessary rehearsals, the Park View Dancers and the Haringey Vox were taken to lessons by very welcoming students and were graciously accepted into two different lessons, some of which were Maths and the South African version of PSHE, which for one group was spent by the teacher recounting their visit to Glastonbury, as they had gone to see Kylie Minogue. It was interesting to know that the students had only just finished their Winter Holiday and were just coming back. After a nice lunch of freshly cooked lasagne, we did a few more run-throughs of all our various different songs, notably 'This Little Light of Mine' and 'Special Star', which involve most of us.

We then had a wonderful time performing in a concert to the Grade 8, 9 and 10s, which are equivalent to UK Year 9, 10 and 11 respectively. The students went wild when Vox performed popular songs such as Stormzy's 'Blinded by your Grace' and Stevie Wonder's 'Living for the City', and the Stage Band played 'Mra Khali', 'Sunny Side of the Street' and 'Red Clay'.

Our wonderful Tyrone Lowe did a little singing workshop with everyone in the audience, and had them singing most of Vox's normal warm-ups, assisted by Vox themselves, as well as a really fun call and response, called 'I don't know what you came to do', which involves stamping and clapping.

The students notably enjoyed the dancers, who performed their complicated choreography to the utmost standard. Their two routines involve perfectly synchronised dancing, which is extremely accurate and follows the backing music to perfection, without even the slightest intervention from their teachers, Miss Malcolm and Cynthia. 

The only flaw with this performance was that David Tims got the microphones muddled and kept turning them off! Naughty David!

At the end of the performance, Ben from Vox was bombarded by HHS female students, who saw him as a bit of a heart-throb, despite the fact that he absolutely hates attention!

Afterwards, we came back to our various very nice host families, and at most, the swimming pool was utilised by most people, however cold it was! We had a lot of fun. At one particular home, a few others walked down the road to their friends and had a nice afternoon jumping into the freezing pool followed by a delicious barbecue.

Author: Stanley Hapgood 

University of Zululand

Today we left St Lucia and travelled south to participate in a day conference at the University of Zululand. We saw several performances from local dancers, singers, instrumentalists and actors, which were all full of energy and excitement. Our dancers performed two amazing numbers. Later on our Vox choir performed some traditional Zulu songs which were very well received and inspired a lot of audience participation.

After a nice lunch that was provided for us, the Stage Band performed a very slick set concluding with an arrangement of “Future Talk” by local Zulu bassist Philani Ngidi, who we hope to meet later in the week. We finished our contribution with a massed performance of Special Star which again inspired a lot of impromptu dancing from other delegates and audience members.

The day concluded with a vote of thanks and talk of the Zulu Orchestra coming to London next year to join us in the Royal Albert Hall on 29th June.

We then drove on to Durban where we were met by hosts and have now dispersed for the evening.

Safari

Today we (mostly all) got up at 5am to drive to Hluhluwe game reserve. Once the few who overslept joined us we set off before sunrise. The sun rose rather spectacularly whilst we drove and we arrived at 7am. (Some of us sang along to the Lion King as the sun came up!)

You can never be sure what animals you will see so we were thrilled to see quite a few fairly early on, including a young bull elephant who decided to follow one of the vehicles! We had a couple of stops during the day for picnic breakfast and lunch. It will take a while for it all to soak in.

We have now come out to a local restaurant and the young people are (hopefully) rising to the challenge of the “tidiest chalet” competition which we will judge just before 8am tomorrow when we are due to leave St Lucia and travel south.

The first gig

Today we went to the town auditorium in St Lucia and gave our first performance of the trip. A large and enthusiastic group of local residents came along to support us whilst enjoying their local cuisine and fine South African wines! They were amazed at the talent and energy of all our young performers  who truly excelled. Great team work and excitement all round.  The finale, a massed performance of Mango Groove’s “Special Star”, brought the house down and inspired a standing ovation from the crowd.

After celebrating Ashley’s birthday yesterday we also took the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to Sofia in tonight’s concert.

Off to bed early in preparation for the 5am start to our safari tomorrow.

First day

Yesterday was an eventful day in several ways. We arrived at St Lucia in plenty of time and had lunch in the local Wimpy before checking into The Bridge apartments. We went for a walk and saw an interesting street market. There was very unusual rain which threatened to spoil our boat trip but it stopped while walked to the boat then came and went several times during the rest of the day.

There was a power cut across St Lucia, which is less unusual but this one lasted well into the night making things more of a challenge. We saw a hippo in the garden when first arrived then many more and a few crocodiles from the boat.

The sun set a little before 7 so we then had the challenge of doing a barbecue for 65 people in the dark with occasional bursts of heavy rain. Everyone coped admirably and we all went to our rooms by torchlight. This morning the sun is out and the power has resumed. Wi-fi availability here is patchy so the youngsters have had to cope without internet!

This morning we will go to the Town Hall to rehearse for tonight’s show. The captain of the boat yesterday knew all about our show from a local WhatsApp group and is coming. A good sign that we may get a reasonable audience.

Arrived safely

All safely arrived and now driving north to St Lucia. A lot of sleepy teenagers but I think they will be fine after a 3 hour drive and lunch!