A positive attitude
Melodi Music was founded by Nimrod Moloto in 2002 and has 35 students between the ages of seven and 20. The project’s home is in a church in the Pimville area of Soweto.
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. 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. While there are regular discussions of the many problems facing so many teenagers in Soweto, 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. They perform regularly and in December 2007 a wind ensemble performed to enthusiastic audiences in the Netherlands and the UK - London, Manchester and Bristol.
Like many organisations of its kind, Melodi is bursting at the seams – it needs rehearsal space, teaching rooms and storage space for its instruments and music library.
We were thrilled to hear them perform, to an appreciative audience, at St George's, Hanover Square, London in December 2007; they played Mozart, Bach and some traditional African songs, conducted by Nimrod Moloto who leads this project.
"The streets of Soweto are vibrating with an enormous amount of energy from the children. Little souls playing on the streets 'til late at night, always looking for something to do to occupy their minds. All they need is proper guidance. My aim is to provide the children with an opportunity to grow through music. I hope that music will be an element of their lives which can inspire them to become better people, regardless of whether they want to become artists, doctors, teachers or accountants. It is for this reason that Melodi Music Trust was founded."
