Pupils rock at Battle of the Bands
RANDPARK RIDGE – Pupils from Rand Park High School won big at the Battle of the Bands competition hosted at St Mary's School.
Rand Park High School‘s in-house band, known as Basement 8, took the honours at the finals of the Battle of the Bands competition, held at St Mary’s School in Waverley, on 10 April.
The band won the overall competition as well as the Best Keyboard Player and Best Original Song categories.
Twenty-five bands partook in the competition, ranging from private, public as well as several music schools. Twelve bands were eventually selected to compete in the finals and Rand Park High was unanimously voted as the winner of the competition by the judging panel.
The rules of the competition required the entrants to audition for the first round and then to present two songs of which one needed to be an original song which had been composed, written and arranged by the band members.
Basement 8 band members received a selection of prizes which included a cash prize of R6 000, recording and studio time at Wired Sound Studios, as well as a radio interview with HOT91.9 FM and Red Bull Radio.
Deputy principal and dean of culture at Randpark High School Tracy Workman-Davies was extremely proud of the musical talent.
“The band’s commitment to our school and their many hours spent rehearsing for this event have been rewarded,” she said.
Lihle Dhlamini wrote the lyrics for the original song, while Ile Lee won the best keyboard player at the competition.
The other members of Basement 8 were Timothy Langa, Creflo van Rooyen, Richard Kaldenberg and Emile Nikel.
Dlhamini was surprised that their band did so well. She said, “It was a shock when we were announced as the winners of the competition. When we looked at the competitors who were from well-known music schools and some excellent private schools, we were uncertain of our chances of winning. It was an amazing feeling when we were awarded the Best Original Song prize as well as the overall winners of the competition.”
She concluded, “We would like to thank Mrs Fiona Hebrard (music teacher), everyone at Rand Park High and our special friends who gave us all the support we needed to win this competition. It was an incredible experience.”
