An Unfinished Symphony | Nobel Peace Prize Shorts

A rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world. Ongoing racial divide in post-apartheid South Africa. This is our land, this is South African land. Racial tensions have risen in recent years. Divisions at their worst. They're angry over high unemployment, widespread poverty and glaring income disparity. To put a living person in a coffin against this real under-threats of killing. The behaviour at heart fuelled racial tension. I wish that I could change what is happening to my country. I'm a musician and this is how I translate my ideas and my dreams into this world. I grew up in Soweto. Soweto is the largest township in Africa. Growing up in Soweto, there was a lot of poverty and there's still a lot of it now. There were few opportunities for me to escape that poverty. My family is still living in Soweto. My grandmother always wanted to open up a jazz club. But her dreams were never realised because of apartheid. But she had tons of records at home. We started rehearsing at like 2pm, 2, 3pm. P.M. P.M. The other guys had a rehearsal. Not A.M. In the past, Soweto was a horrible place to live in because of the violence that was inflicted on the people that lived there. And the violence was not just physical violence. Poverty itself is inherited violence. This is probably 1950s. All the girls have their heads shaved. That's all. Even for the girls? Even for the girls. I used to walk from Muletani to Rovive. It was six kilometres. Were they not allowed to wear shoes or...? I think money. Much of what they had to do back then was a struggle. You see the trauma in them even today. This was exactly 1994. This is when the first elections were held. I was counting votes in 1994. You were counting votes. Obviously that week things changed. The whole country changed. The mood was so vibey. Everywhere. I was very lucky with the childhood that I had. I grew up with privileges that many others didn't have. I first discovered music from a very, very young age as my mum is a pianist. Now I absolutely love music. It's a big passion of mine. Good evening, friends. Welcome to our evening service tonight. I'm going to light a liturgical candle for us. To say that we are in the presence of Christ and that his light is in our presence. I honestly believe that music can bring people together. Music is a universal language. It's just a harmonic progression. But we've got a bigger... To be honest, my close friends are the same race as me. I don't think it's something that's intentionally done. We are friends along racial lines. And that's why we still have segregation as it is. I think when people are not integrated it can definitely, definitely lead to prejudices between the races because you don't really know those people and you don't understand them. As we can see from history, prejudice leads to inequality. And this is a fact that we cannot dispute. South Africa is still one of the most unequal societies in the world. The majority of our country's population is... Amen. Thanks. Mm-mm. October. Oh, that's all two? Yes. Yeah, it's true, it's true. We will be there. I heard about the orchestra quite a few years ago and I heard that they went on tour. Going to Europe has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time. I was lucky to go to a school that had some classical instruments. I was introduced to the cello and it was love at first sight. Very few people had this opportunity in Soweto. The cello changed everything for me. The orchestras in South Africa have always been dominated by white musicians and I never imagined myself being part of one. To be really honest, when I went to the orchestra, it was possibly the first time I'd been in a space where there were really a lot of people from really different backgrounds. I think this orchestra is very, very special. Okay. So let's go back to the beginning. I thought there's a lot of good things from yesterday. Thank you. I think we can do this now and keep going. One, two, and. Oh, where this crescendo starts, four bars before. In my opinion, I think the members of an orchestra have to be friends to make it work. All right. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Fifteen minutes. If you have that bond with your fellow musicians and you are all making the same music together, it's much easier to achieve that goal of creating a really good performance. Have you ever heard this piece? You need to be dressed up as a crowd. When you start knowing each other, then the fears of who you are and assumptions disappear. This is Soweto, this whole table. I stay almost right in the center. Oh, really? My great-great-grandmother was born in Soweto in like 1907. When they moved to Soweto, you could actually see a bit of her antelopes. Really? But now it's changed. I mean, if you go now, you can't see anything. I haven't been to Soweto yet. You haven't been? No, I haven't been there at all. When we want to break racial lines, we must engage each other beyond a group of people. Go for the individual. If people see this concert. Yeah, people will love it, man. I mean, and see how we work together. See the energy between us and how there's just love. Yeah, everywhere. It's just love. Unfortunately, it's incredibly hard to get funding for the orchestra. There are people who don't want the situation in this country to change. My biggest worry for South Africa is that we lose all this positive energy that we had in 1994 after the elections. The collective spirit of ending an unjust system. South Africa is in the crossroads where even Mandela's legacy is disputed. This rainbow nation might just be a lie. I'm a musician. You know, I'm trying to positively change my country through music. Sometimes we're never sure if people actually will come to the concert. Whenever we have these concerts, I never know, you know, if we can have the same opportunity again. Yeah, I have nerves before the concert. I initially joined the orchestra because I've always wanted to go to Europe, but I think what I got from it is so much more. Joining the Miyagi Orchestra has absolutely changed everything for me. It has grown beyond music. When people come together and they really try and work things out and they have hope, then that is when this country will change. In essence, it's a collective effort. Every voice is equal, and no voice should be unheard. We need to really love each other to become just one South Africa. There is no easy road to freedom. None of us acting alone can achieve success.