Sefura Maria Manyane (7 August 1950 – 1 December 2020)
The Temba Music Project (TMP) successfully hosted the TMP Fundraising Commemorative Concert on Sunday, 7 August 2022 at the Sebothoma Hall in Temba Hammanskraal.
The event was organized to pay homage to its cofounder, the late Sefura Maria Manyane who sadly passed away at the age of 70 on that fateful day on Tuesday, 1 December 2020.
According to her daughter Mildred Manyane, the TMP Fundraising Commemorative Concert was organized to coincide with the 72nd birthday of her mother Sefura Maria Manyane (1950-2020) and to celebrate her legacy as the co-founder of the Temba Music Project.
It was also befitting and timeous, that the event coincided with Women`s Day long weekend, to celebrate Sefura Maria Manyane as an extraordinary and visionary woman of our times.
The concert line-up included the guest performances by the SAPS Gauteng Marching Band, Pretoria Serenaders Male Voice Choir, Adam Masebe, and Sikhululekile School Choirs, UMF Jazz Combo, UMF Orchestra, and TMP Starter Pack (Beginners).
It was the Temba Music Project Orchestra who dished out world class musical treat to the full-house and cheerful audience. Their music repertoire ranged from the celebrated classical of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart to the modern jazzy music of Jonas Gwangwa and popular music of Brenda Fassie and others.
The full-house audience from the local community and proud families and parents, loved and enjoyed every minute of the show which was streamed live through the TMP Facebook social media link.
Indeed, her illustrious life was immortalized through the music that reverberated melodiously through the hallowed walls of the Sebothoma Community Hall.
As every musical note was bellowed out from the various orchestras and choirs that performed throughout the day, their performances were a monumental celebration of her visionary intuition to co-start the Temba Music Project in 2006.
But the truth of the matter is that during her lifetime, Mma Manyane loved music deeply. Her insatiable passion for music was instrumental in the establishment of the IPHC Hammanskraal Adult Choir, the IPHC Mass Choir and the IPHC Youth Orchestra.
But it was the co-founding of the Temba Music Project in conjunction with the UNISA Music Foundation (UMF) that proved to be a master stroke of genius, that orchestrated the introduction of music training for children, learners and students in a black township, with meagre and minimal resources.
The journey of the Temba Musical Project is an inspiration feat. Back in 2005 the co-founders learned that Mercedes Benz South Africa was supporting the development of classical music at the State Theatre in Pretoria.
The co-founders then participated in the workshop at the State Theatre to learn and acquire skills on how to run a township-based music school. It was then that the idea of starting the Temba Music Project was conceived, starting with ten learners with music lessons in Violin, Viola, Double Bass and Clarinet.
The UNISA Music Foundation donated instruments for learners who could not afford the expensive instruments and contributed to the payment of music teachers for music tutorials.
Through the music lessons, learners to go through the rigorous and robust UNISA music theory examinations from grades one to eight. As a result, most of the local learners have been able to achieve Grade 5 Intermediate Level, demonstrating that they have a good understanding of music notation, scales, keys, time, intervals, transposition, basic harmony, chords, general knowledge about orchestral instruments, and composition.
Half-way through the concert, the surviving co-founder Mme Shadikgolo Mmope (nee Sookane) reflected with reminiscence on the challenges they faced in the early years after the establishment of the Temba Music Project in 2006.
“Our singular aim was to get the kids off the streets and to provide them with extra-mural activities through learning music as an art-form and mastering orchestra instrument families including string, woodwinds, brass and percussion” said Mma Shadikgolo Mmope.
“We wanted to ensure that each boy and girl child from the community had a musical instrument as their best friends, far from the influence of social ills that has befallen our communities”, added Mma Shadikgolo Mmope.
As the country celebrates Women’s Day on 9 August 2022 to mark the 66th anniversary of the 1956 Women`s March to the Union Buildings, the Temba Community must take pride and pay homage to our own visionary women like Mma Maria Monyane and Shadikgolo Mmope.
Their selfless act through the empowerment of black children to acquire musical competencies and skills, they have invested a legacy that will become a lasting memory for many generations to come. May the soul of Mma Maria Monyane forever live through the music of her prodigies, eternally so.
