[VIDEO] Soothing sounds for patients
A local band called Bezzies Marching Band entertained patients, doctors and visitors with their beautiful instrumentals at Netcare Pholoso Hospital last Sunday.
The band was started by Janet Bezuidenhout in 2010 and now consists of 60 members ranging between the ages of six and 30 years old.
As part of their remarketing strategy post-lockdown, the band is currently playing for free at various clinics and hospitals in and around the city.
“The band was started with the aim to keep the youth off the streets and have them engage in activities that impact their lives positively. We have a lot of youths in our communities who have loads of talent which they can use to positively impact their lives, but they cannot unleash those talents because of the environment that they find themselves in. Bezzies Marching Band aims to provide them with an opportunity to be themselves, using their talent and to grow. Every time we have a session in public, either to practice or perform, I get the youth asking to join the band, and it saddens me that I cannot welcome all of them onboard as I will need more money to run the band, and we are not funded by any entity at this stage,” she explained.
Janet says playing musical instruments relieves stress and that they believe that the music they play is soothing and healing, especially to those who are not doing so well emotionally and physically. “We have not been getting a lot of gigs as a result of the lockdown and decided to do some remarketing by playing healing gospel instrumentals to hospitals and clinics in and around the city for free, in a bid to also help alleviate and heal patients emotionally as well,” she explained.
