Opera singer Paulina Malefane is helping disadvantaged children to learn and understand music.
Ms Malefane, 48, grew up in Khayelitsha and now lives in Somerset West. She is a full-time vocal studies lecturer at UCT’s College of Music, but outside her profession, she has started a music academy, the Paulina Malefane Foundation, to teach children the basics of music.
“It is a project based on giving young people the opportunity to study music at an early age,” she says.
“From my experience, when I decided to do music, I did not have a musical background, I had no instruments, only my voice. When I came to UCT, I needed to learn to read music and had to keep up in learning the theory of music.”
The academy, she says, gives children the opportunities she never had.
“It’s important to create this platform for the youth not only for those that want to be singers but also for those who would like to read and write music.”
On Saturdays, she gives free piano classes at the UCT College of Music campus, and on Thursdays, she visits the Masiphumelele Primary School in Khayelitsha where she teaches 20 children the theory of music and how to play the keyboard.
“They will learn how to read and write music, learn all the terminology and learn to express themselves through music,” she says.
Vuyokazi Xundi, of Mitchells Plain, whose daughter, Liyema, 15, attended Ms Malefane’s Saturday class at UCT says her daughter was happy with the classes.
“She was exposed to different kinds of music and instruments, and she can go far with what she learnt.”
Liyema was at Seaview Primary in Mitchell’s Plain when she first attended the classes, but now that she is at Good Hope Seminary High School, she still attends and enjoys singing and playing piano.
Masiphumelele Primary music teacher Nomlindo Poto says Ms Malefane has helped expose the children to a world of music.
“It is beneficial and it will help the children build confidence, and learning to read music will help them when they do music in high school and university.”
Ms Poto says some of her pupils also attend the Saturday music classes at UCT.
Opera has taken Ms Malefane to stages around the world for the past 20 years. In 2006, she performed the songs of Kurt Weill at London’s Royal Albert Hall. In the same year, she sang the role of Bess in Porgy and Bess in Sweden. In 2012, she performed as Venus in the Isango Ensemble’s Venus & Adonis, which opened the Globe-to-Globe season at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. In 2020, at the National Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain, she reprised her role as Yindy in the Isango Ensemble’s A Man of Good Hope.
Last month, she performed in The Sound of Freedom opera at the Baxter Theatre.
“It is very exciting to perform. I enjoy each and every place that I go to, and it’s always good experiencing different cultures,” she says.
Her next performance will see her in concert with tenor Sipho Fubesi and pianist José Dias at the Youngblood Gallery, in Bree Street, on Friday May 10, from 7pm. Tickets can be booked through Quicket for R250.
