WATCH: International composer and producer puts Shongweni choir on the map
The founder member of the Black Eyed Peas, Brian Lapin, and his wife, Rosalind, are visiting South Africa, and they are sponsoring a Shongweni school choir, making special recordings of them singing ’Shosholoza’.
THE hills of Shongweni Dam reverberated with joyful music as the learners of Egcekeni Primary School sang and danced for the choir’s sponsors, Futures in Tune.
Rosalind Read and Brian Lapin, visiting from Los Angeles, founded Futures In Tune in 2021 in partnership with Transcenders and Bloom Arts Foundation. They shared that “We are overjoyed with the success of our Futures in Tune programme in KwaZulu-Natal. Our educators and scholars are brimming with talent and enthusiasm and are an invaluable part of our global music community with very bright futures ahead!”
Brian Lapin is a founding member of Black Eyed Peas and the Los Angeles-based composing team, Transcenders. He facilitated the on-site recordings of Shosholoza at Egcekeni Primary School on Monday. The recording will be a lead track for a 2024 global song and music video which will also be contributed to by Futures in Tune choirs in Mumbai and Los Angeles. The recording will be produced by Transcenders.
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“Our learners and the school have benefited so much from this programme,” said Maureen Mthimkhulu, principal of the school, adding that upliftment through music is definitely visible.
Futures in Tune sponsored the choir in Shongweni which was spearheaded by Summerveld resident Heather Partner through the Making a Difference (MAD) project.
Partner said they were grateful for the sponsorship. “Rosalind, Brian and Futures in Tune are uplifting our children and facilitating cross-cultural musical programming.”
“My children sing in Hindi, and the children from India sing Shosholoza! The kids talk via video link. MAD has provided an inverter, TV, projector, veg tunnel and curtains for the Egcekeni Primary School hall. There is lots more to come,” said excited Partner.
Brian’s wife, Rosalind, who was born and grew up in South Africa, is an entertainment lawyer in Hollywood for Hasbro and has, among other things, sponsored MAD’s self-defense courses for 75 staff in Summerveld.
She is dedicated to the arts and global storytelling, whether it be through film, television or music. Rosalind said she hopes that her work through Futures in Tune will contribute to the beginnings of some very special stories for scholars in Shongweni Dam.
“Who knows, maybe we’ll see these kids soon in Hollywood or on the global stage one of these days!” Rosalind and Brian’s children, Evelyn and Graham, who joined the visit to South Africa, wholeheartedly agree.
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