WE live in interesting times, as the Chinese say. We now have songs that cheer us and songs that annoy us, but are also obliged to put up with “muzak” that seems to follow us around in steakhouses and supermarkets, especially in the festive season.
I find some of this supercharged “wah-wah” devastating on the digestion and also my peace of mind, but they tell me it is what the young prefer.
This is borne out by some speed maniacs.
They fit high decibel boom boxes to their cars and broadcast their preferences to entire neighbourhoods.
That is when they are not crashing into trees, lamp posts or one another in the small hours.
As a rather moth- eaten golden “oldy”, I could recommend less hazardous pastimes than midnight dicing in residential areas, let alone on the open road.
It was a singular pleasure, therefore, to hear Paarl children, not intent on shooting anyone or grabbing the nearest machinegun, reinforcing my faith in our future.
These little ones, drawn from all sectors of our community, excelled at the Paarl Valley Eisteddfod.
Their song, poetry and ballet performances transcended all barriers of race, language, religion and tradition. They were a tribute to teachers who take pleasure in helping latent talent to blossom, even in the most unlikely environments.
At its best, music (and art) is a universal language that promotes peace, goodwill and understanding, essential ingredients for our future together in this lovely country, so often made unlovely by callous, uncaring individuals.
It is a pity, therefore, that music as a school subject is no longer regarded as essential for character building, along with all those finer things about the world around us, that we picked up almost by osmosis from dedicated and conscientious teachers.
To them (many of them old maids in my day) teaching was a vocation and real education much wider in scope than the syllabus or exam results – a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Such teachers build caring, responsible and polite communities, conscious of the harm insulting words and ill-chosen songs may do to others.
One look at the enthusiastic, bright-eyed, little ones of the Huguenot Primary choir was a tribute not only to their teacher, but also to Gail Jacobs (chairman), Chantelle Fourie, Caren Bosman, Abie Martin, the Paarl Valley school principals and many others, who build awareness and pride in our multicultural diversity.
They also inculcate respect for the unique talent, disposition, potential and passion of each participant.
With a spirit of inclusiveness, we can achieve something unique in Paarl, Wellington and the Western Cape, an aspect also recognised by Dr Noel David Adams, our new councillor for social services, health and community development, who presented the medals on behalf of the Mayor.
“Under the Linden Tree”, sang by the Huguenot School choir, was a song of peace never by any stretch of the imagination intended to remind one of the proud soldiers who 75 years ago arrogantly did their goosestep along Unter den Linden and through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
Those soldiers, by gross contrast, were devoted to traditional militaristic songs that heralded the death of many millions of all races and the ruination of Europe, Russia and North Africa. Those are the kind of shooting songs our children and our country hopefully can be spared, if only out of respect for one another and our differences!
