NNachwuchsforderung has played an important role in establishing Jazz Against Apartheid event as an important tool for youth music education and development.
One of the driving forces behind the return of Jazz Against Apartheid to Eastern Cape is Professor Peggy Luswazi. Prof Luswazi’s enthusiasm and support stems from direct interaction with the project and its founders during the many active years of study and work in Berlin, at the peak of the anti-apartheid struggle. As a rural and social development practitioner, she has championed the use of “Nachwuchsforderung” – the conscious policy and practice of transferring societal values, knowledge and skills to the next generation – as a core focus for Jazz Against Apartheid in the Eastern Cape.
“Nachwuchsfordering” was demonstrated as a highly successful tool for youth development in the JAA inaugural tour event of 16th to 18th specifically on 17th of December 2022 during which well-established and highly professional international musicians from Germany, London, Denmark and Canada worked together with the youth of the underserved community of Duncan Village. This is the township which nurtured and produced the jazz giant, Johnny Dyani and this way approximately 10 institutions and 100 students were exposed and empowered in an outcomes based mentorship.
The Jazz Against Apartheid Homecoming Tour in Buffalo City in 2022 has further cemented the profound and long-term co-operation between Germany and the Eastern Cape, as per the bi-lateral agreement signed between Eastern Cape and Lower Saxony in the early 1990s.
This is demonstrated by the wide cooperation and great interest among political, administrative and civil society decision makers, musicians, music educators and enthusiasts to retain this event long-term in the Eastern Cape for the purpose of a varied skills development and stimulus within the creative industries economy.
Jazz Against Apartheid and particularly the focus on “Nachwuchsforderung” is having a long-term and sustainable impact on South African skills and employment stimulus.
What we have achieved
- Music tuition across musical instruments of all categories including strings, percussion and brass, and performance in a group setting (collaboration).
- General knowledge tuition pride in the township and a shared awareness of the role Jazz artists from the EC played in the international struggle against apartheid including the subsequent richness of the artistic heritage that has been cultivated over decades in Europe and especially in Germany.
- Professional skills development and transfer through access to these well-established international professional contributors and the contemporary influences from their own projects.
- Partner with universities, offering jazz, culture and development courses in Eastern Cape and Germany. So that the mentorship may build towards a syllabus based direction. And once more talented students may have further opportunity to apply for such tertiary education.
- Youth band: Grow the music tuition into the long-term creation of a resident Jazz Against Apartheid youth band in the Eastern Cape.
- Database of students, institutions and study opportunities for future music and creative economy practitioners in Germany thus growing the cultural exchange.
- Cultural exchange through the annual professional festival bringing musicians of international quality to the Eastern Cape.
- On-the-job training for youth jazz and culture learners to work on the Jazz Against Apartheid festival (that happens alongside the mentorship programme). The on-the-job training would be goal oriented, supervised and assessed.
- Online conferencing offering skills transfer and building towards longer-term research exchanges, between institutes, archives and universities.
(Historically study exchanges have been offered and the visit of the UNITRA CHOIR to participate at the International Richard Wagner Music Festival in Nurenburg 1997 is an example)
(The Archive of African Music at Walter Sisulu University which was established as a result of a partnership project between former UNITRA and the UNIVERSITY OF MAINZ (Jurgen Leinhos and Dr Wolfgang Bender) in Germany can be revived and developed through this project.)
