#knowyourbenoni – Lakefield resident proves it is never too late to pursue your dream
Lakefield resident Santoro Arikum (50) began his career in law enforcement.
He then took the direction of forensic auditing until he recently pursued his passion for songwriting.
BCT: Tell us about your music career?
SA: During February this year Father Arwin from the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel attended my birthday celebration and he requested I write a song for the church in celebration of the Marian Year (in honour of Mother Mary).
I began writing this song, titled Our Lady.
It took me about 15 minutes to write the lyrics to this song.
It was a strange and wonderful feeling, because most of my other songs sometimes took weeks to compose.
I then collaborated with my friend and music guru Ryan Papenfus to do the music for this song.
In Ryan’s words, “I have learnt so much from the women in my life. It is our women and how we love and respect them that defines us as men.”
Every time I read this message from Ryan, I feel the emotion and I pay careful attention to all the things I take for granted.
My wish is that every man take a leaf of this message.
We have collaborated on three new songs and hope to release another album by next year.
BCT: Tell us about your personal life?
SA: I wrote music for the bands, played in school concerts and recorded my own material with background music.
My dad, Joseph Arikum, died when I was 17 while I was doing my matric at Centenary Secondary in Durban.
I worked part-time to support my mother, Shantie Arikum, who was the sole breadwinner.
I still managed to do well in matric (passed with exemption) and then joined the SAPS because I had to support my family financially.
I am married to a beautiful woman, Col Veeshani Arikum, who is the SAPS cluster coordinator of Ekurhuleni Central.
She is my pillar of strength and lights up my days.
Together we have two daughters, Dalveena and Shannel Arikum; their achievements fill me with pride.
BCT: What are your plans?
SA: To take each step as it comes and continue to enjoy the music scene and make it a fun career.
We have people who love and are keen on promoting our music, so now it is all about our “big break”.
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