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Friday 23 November 2012

French Carnival: Kids bring France to East London


'THE call of the wild, bird sounds, the beat of the African drum and soothing recorder sounds that would surely have given the Pied Piper of Hamelin a run for his money filled the Miriam Makeba Centre of Performing Arts on Saturday night when 38 young musicians gathered to celebrate the France-South Africa Seasons through a music concert called the French Carnival.
When one imagines classical music you think of the heart-wrenching sounds of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, or the sounds that made Bach, Mozart and Beethoven famous for centuries… little do we think about the French greats.
These include Claude Debussy who influenced so many classical musicians with his deep meaningful songs, Charles Camille Saint-Saƫns, the Parisian-born composer and artist best known for his Carnival of Animals and of course Maurice Ravel, who, following the lead of masters such as Debussy, wrote toe-tapping classical music.
When the Keiskamma Music Academy decided to hold the French Carnival in celebration of the France-South Africa Seasons that had finally come to South Africa after many years of holding mutual seasons (multifaceted bilateral collaborations) with countries such as India, Japan, Russia and other overseas countries, little did we know that the Eastern Cape province would hold a meaningful celebration of such an event.
For the first time since the seasons came to South Africa, the Eastern Cape had finally received its chance to contribute towards this extraordinary international event.'
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From the Dispatch Onling