If you entered the word “Silvertown” into your Google search engine you are more likely to find links to stories of horrific crimes – like the kidnapping of a three-year-old child while her drug-afflicted parents were arguing on a street corner – than anything that might uplift the human spirit.
That’s because the three “towns” (Kew Town, Silvertown, Bridgetown) that run along Klipfontein Road, Athlone, are typical Cape Flats areas long plagued by drugs, gangs and unrelenting violence.
It is this one-sided view of the depressed Flats that makes it onto Special Assignment or Focus and as staple newsfeed for the print media. Nobody ever tells you about the genius of the NAC in the heart of Silvertown.
I had never set foot in a New Apostolic Church (NAC) before, since doctrinally they were at odds with my evangelical upbringing; I mean, praying for “the departed” sounded downright creepy. But they had a gift – singing. Like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the other side of the world, you did not have to embrace their strange teachings to know their music was world class.
And so I made my way for the first time to the NAC Easter Music Festival in Silvertown. What an experience.
In stark contrast to the drab council houses outside, the otherwise modest church was fitted with impressive sound pipes for the organ, a grand piano and any number of polished instruments on the stage. But it was the more than 120 young people who caught your attention. Each one was meticulously groomed and in elegant black dress, men and women.
Most were there to sing from a difficult repertoire of classical and gospel music, including Negro spirituals and tough pieces from Handel’s Messiah.
The rest played a range of instruments, including a teenager on various keyboards. The classy soloist was from windswept Belhar and the conductor has performed on the great musical stages of Europe. All from the community.
What I was witnessing here was not simply a township church offering the best musical talent in South Africa. On display was a grand sociological experiment that took young people from the misery of the Flats and taught them high-end musical skills alongside discipline, focus, grooming and commitment.
Here was a talent factory if ever you saw one and without question some of these youth will graduate to become gifted national and world artists.
There is no doubt in my mind that without the NAC choir many of the young people would be lost on the streets, their talents undiscovered and Silvertown left even more hopeless.
What you have here is music, culture and community in ways seldom seen on the harsh streets outside.
I mention culture because I believe that one of the disasters of black life in South Africa is that so much of the energy and ideals of youth are reduced to politics and little else.
No, don’t give me that old sing-song about “seeking first the political kingdom.” There are many ways our youth can aspire to greatness, some of which include music, art, drama and theatre.
Truth is, our youth have become more adept at destroying works of art than creating them.
We must discourage the idea that the only existence worth pursuing is party political. It is increasingly expressed among South African youth as violence, intolerance, aggression and even racism.
We need balance so that the many different kinds of talents can be identified, nurtured and promoted, as the NAC community does so well with the musical arts on the Cape Flats.
Last Monday night small groups of young men slunk past the church with that all too recognisable physical movement of a gangster, the exaggerated swaying of the body from one side to the next. Inside the NAC church were 70 or more mainly young people playing instruments and being tested by the conductor as they sang a difficult few lines over and over again.
“None of this is an accident. It is intentional, part of a culture long established in the church; you learn to sing before you can read,” a couple of church leaders tell me.
And so from a young age these children are inducted into music, learning to play a simple instrument like the recorder long before they come to sing complex arrangements.
And after the most stirring live musical experience this year in the heart of Silvertown, who the hell cares if they pray for the departed?
They are, after all, doing a great job with the living.
Music takes Cape Flats youngsters off streets
That’s because the three “towns” (Kew Town, Silvertown, Bridgetown) that run along Klipfontein Road, Athlone, are typical Cape Flats areas long plagued by drugs, gangs and unrelenting violence.
It is this one-sided view of the depressed Flats that makes it onto Special Assignment or Focus and as staple newsfeed for the print media. Nobody ever tells you about the genius of the NAC in the heart of Silvertown.
I had never set foot in a New Apostolic Church (NAC) before, since doctrinally they were at odds with my evangelical upbringing; I mean, praying for “the departed” sounded downright creepy. But they had a gift – singing. Like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the other side of the world, you did not have to embrace their strange teachings to know their music was world class.
And so I made my way for the first time to the NAC Easter Music Festival in Silvertown. What an experience.
In stark contrast to the drab council houses outside, the otherwise modest church was fitted with impressive sound pipes for the organ, a grand piano and any number of polished instruments on the stage. But it was the more than 120 young people who caught your attention. Each one was meticulously groomed and in elegant black dress, men and women.
Most were there to sing from a difficult repertoire of classical and gospel music, including Negro spirituals and tough pieces from Handel’s Messiah.
The rest played a range of instruments, including a teenager on various keyboards. The classy soloist was from windswept Belhar and the conductor has performed on the great musical stages of Europe. All from the community.
What I was witnessing here was not simply a township church offering the best musical talent in South Africa. On display was a grand sociological experiment that took young people from the misery of the Flats and taught them high-end musical skills alongside discipline, focus, grooming and commitment.
Here was a talent factory if ever you saw one and without question some of these youth will graduate to become gifted national and world artists.
There is no doubt in my mind that without the NAC choir many of the young people would be lost on the streets, their talents undiscovered and Silvertown left even more hopeless.
What you have here is music, culture and community in ways seldom seen on the harsh streets outside.
I mention culture because I believe that one of the disasters of black life in South Africa is that so much of the energy and ideals of youth are reduced to politics and little else.
No, don’t give me that old sing-song about “seeking first the political kingdom.” There are many ways our youth can aspire to greatness, some of which include music, art, drama and theatre.
Truth is, our youth have become more adept at destroying works of art than creating them.
We must discourage the idea that the only existence worth pursuing is party political. It is increasingly expressed among South African youth as violence, intolerance, aggression and even racism.
We need balance so that the many different kinds of talents can be identified, nurtured and promoted, as the NAC community does so well with the musical arts on the Cape Flats.
Last Monday night small groups of young men slunk past the church with that all too recognisable physical movement of a gangster, the exaggerated swaying of the body from one side to the next. Inside the NAC church were 70 or more mainly young people playing instruments and being tested by the conductor as they sang a difficult few lines over and over again.
“None of this is an accident. It is intentional, part of a culture long established in the church; you learn to sing before you can read,” a couple of church leaders tell me.
And so from a young age these children are inducted into music, learning to play a simple instrument like the recorder long before they come to sing complex arrangements.
And after the most stirring live musical experience this year in the heart of Silvertown, who the hell cares if they pray for the departed?
They are, after all, doing a great job with the living.
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