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Feb 15, 2007

"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art." --Charlie Parker

The Strings of Soweto

When professional viola player, Rosemary Nalden found these kids, they were playing music in a community lavatory dubbed "Carnegie Hall". They were from Soweto, the sprawling South African township struggling against poverty, unemployment and HIV. BBC Radio broadcasted a report on the young musicians in 1991; tuning in that morning was Nalden, who knew at once what she wanted to do. Together with professional colleagues she raised $10,000 by playing at railway stations across the UK and then took the money to Soweto. Five years later she would entirely pack her bags and move her life there to start The Buskaid Soweta String Project, a music school that is transforming the lives of these children through the power of music and a compassionate heart. Her talented students have played in Hollywood, for Queen Elizabeth and for Nelson Mandela!