Uplifting the underprivileged on a classical note
Musicians Pascali Mokadi and Cerys Grant performed a soirée with classical music, in an effort to raise funds for their community project.
The event, therefore, served as a way to introduce classical music to children living in underprivileged areas.
“Today’s society is filled with so much negativity and dangers, so our aim is to create a passion among children that is uplifting and will ultimately steer their life in a positive direction,” said Mokadi.
With the money that was raised from the concert, Mokadi (classical violinist) and Grant (classical pianist) would like to host music workshops in underprivileged areas, in order to stimulate a creative interest in children.
The classical soirée was held at the Health Hydro Day Spa.
Mokadi, from Benoni, and Grant, from Boksburg, met this year through a mutual friend, at a birthday party and “instantly connected”.
“We were definitely on the same wavelength, understanding that music is the root of all life for us,” said Grant.
“He [Mokadi] was such an accomplished musician and I was dying to play with someone at such level.”
The duo danced around the idea of doing a concert for a while, and realised they could do some good, as well.
The idea grew roots when they decided what a perfect idea it would be if they could share and inspire others through their passion.
“Seeing that there’s a lot of talent around the East Rand, we saw that children and other music lovers don’t have that much knowledge about what you can do in the music industry,” said Mokadi.
Grant added that “classical music is such a joy to us that we wanted to share this joy by showing others how amazing it could be to fill your life with classical music”.
There is no other such programme as yet, so this would be a first.
“As the idea is not that old, this is still new ground for us, but we plan on being very pro-active in providing classes, performances and workshops to the underprivileged,” said Grant.
“Who knows what could come of this – we could, potentially, find the next Beethoven right on our doorstep!”
It’s Grant’s absolute belief that music is everyone’s God given right and everyone has the ability to make music within.
Mokadi and Grant would also like to steer a young mind that would otherwise have gone down the wrong road, a positive and uplifting chance to change their life through the “wonderful power of music”.
“I think we will surprise ourselves at the amazing wealth of untapped talent. It’s just a great initiative and one that we are very passionate about,” said Grant.
Mokadi added that they’re hoping that, in the next couple of months, something big and exciting will come up.
It is one of their starting points to introduce the initiative here, at home – the East Rand – with young and upcoming musicians.
“If we leave it for later we might lose all the goodness and talent in our own town, due to the lack of such a workshop,” said Mokadi.
“We’ll start by going to as many schools as possible to present the idea of doing these workshops.
“We would then look at going around the country, building on the success of the previous ones we did, back at home, to do the work with the upcoming musicians of this country and to make sure the life of art lives on and saves more lives every day.”
The concert raised enough money to help Mokadi and Grant with the first three workshops they’re planning.
They are looking to going to nearby places or schools that offer music or do music as a subject – places like Benoni, Thembisa, Daveyton and Katlehong.
“We hope this brings enthusiastic interest from communities and corporations who are looking to help us with the venture, and we want to generate so much interest from people wanting us to help them – we want to start with a bang,” said Grant.
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