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Field bands will march to a competitive
tune at the National Championships Festival of the Field Band Foundation,
featuring the first and premier divisions.
THE annual Field Band Foundation national championships,
one of the biggest music competitions in the country, takes place in Johannesburg on 3 October.
Marching to the beat: the PG Bison Buccaneers Field Band
In the premier division championships on
the day, nine bands from all over the country, each comprising 120 youngsters,
will play their hearts out at Johannesburg Athletics Stadium, next to Ellis
Park Stadium. Entrance is free.
Activities will start at 9am, with the
tournament opened by the deputy minister of arts and culture, Paul Mashatile,
and Herman Mashaba, the chairperson of the Field Band Foundation (FBF).
Among the competitors are Soweto Field
Band, De Beers Musina Field Band, De Beers Cullinan Field Band, Cape Whalers
Field Band, Stocks Anglo Field Band, De Beers Black Like Me Northern Cape Field
Band, PG Bison Buccaneers Field Band, Mdantsane Field Band and De Beers PPC
Kimberley Field Band.
According to the FBF website, the
National Championships Festival of the Field Band Foundation "is not a
commercial event but a public evaluation process of a creative social
development organisation. The championships are the focus of all the children
taking part in the foundation's
activities countrywide, for them this is the culmination of the year's work."
The foundation has been in the business of
encouraging youth to showcase their talents in this way for 12 years now.
"The FBF is an innovative, imaginative and
exciting organisation with a track record for youth development through music
and dance outside of the formal education sector," states its website.
This year it won the Chairman's Premier
Award at the Business and Arts South Africa Awards.
Other programmes that the organisation
offers include an arts development programme, which incorporates music training
and workshops; bursary schemes; building relationships with potential employers
for the youth; and an HIV/Aids life skills and social development programme.
The FBF has a membership of 4 127 young
people from 286 schools in 109 townships around the country. It targets young
people from the ages of seven to 21.
On Friday, 2 October, the national
championships in the first division will take place, also at Johannesburg
Athletics Stadium; entrance is free and activities will start at 10am.
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