Poetic souls motivate youth
SANDRINGHAM - Five Grade 11 pupils at Sandringham High School seek to motivate their peers, and improve their school's flagging image, through the power of poetry.
“We’re looking to revolutionise the music industry,” said budding music producer, Brendon Ndlovu (alias Brizzy Da Savage), who along with the rest of Different 5 (D5), is on a mission to motivate his peers through the straightforward, personal power of music and the spoken word.
The group formed after Ndlovu and poet Peter Sethosa (aka Peter Divine) produced Disproportionate Youth, a spoken word performance that grew from a class oral assignment with the encouragement of their English teacher, Tanya Chan-Sam, whom they describe as “not the ordinary teacher”.
Now, joined by vocalists Esther Tselapedi, Kholofela Motea (Miss K) and Nomthandazo Seema (Nomtee), Ndlovu and Sethosa are working on a second track hoping to give their fellow pupils at Sandringham High School something to be proud of, in the wake of persistent bad press about the school.
Peter Sethosa (alias Peter Divine), Esther Tselapedi, Kholofela Motea (Miss K), Nomthandazo Seema (Nomtee) and Brendon Ndlovu (Brizzy Da Savage) of Different 5 want to prove that following a creative dream can bring success.
Easily identified by their uniforms, the pupils are made very aware of the low esteem in which their school is held, but D5 hopes to change that by giving locals something positive to say.
As for personal aspiration, these talented teens intend to go far, and feel that, while hard work is required to achieve success, opportunities exist. In fact, lack of travel funds is all that prevented them accepting a recent invitation to perform in Pennsylvania. Sethosa dreams of becoming a full-time poet, while Tselapedi, Motea and Seema see themselves performing on the professional stage. Ndlovu wants to use his production talents to put his generation of South African musicians on the world map.
But the group has a grander goal in mind as well, to motivate their peers and demonstrate to other teens that big money is not necessary for success. Inspired by the likes of The Soil, whose careers began at school, and ProVerb, who achieved success despite dropping out of school, the group also wants to prove that success does not have to take the form of academic accolades.
“We’re trying to encourage the other children who have talent to broadcast that talent,” explained Seema.
Watch the video below:
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