Education Africa introduces inaugural Virtual International Marimba, Steelpan Festival

You can’t stop the music! Education Africa is forging ahead with its International Marimba and Steelpan Festival but for the first time in a virtual format.

Schools, universities colleges and institutions with Marimba and Steelpanbands from around the world will be showcased in several virtual competitions between the 1^st and 13^th of December.

Joan Lithgow, Marimba Specialist and Director of the International Marimba and Steelpan Festival says many bands from around the world have already entered.

“It’s been very encouraging to see band entries from around the globe including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Japan.”

“Lockdown and Covid-19 have certainly presented us with a few challenges not least of which is the inability for bands and ensembles to get together and practise,” she says.

“But every cloud has a silver lining and we’ve made it easy for bands and soloists to compete at the highest levels against some truly phenomenal local and international bands who will be adjudicated from specialists hailing from South Africa, the United States of America and Uganda.”

There are great prizes up for grabs, with the virtual Festival being supported by the SAMRO Foundation, The Marimba Workshop, CASIO, Beyers Chocolates and Lang Percussion but the organisers are still looking for sponsors to come on board.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for brands to be associated with up-and-coming young musicians predominantly from South Africa, and to assist first-hand in the empowerment and growth of our future generation,” says Joan. 

Interested parties can visit www.internationalmarimbafestival.org/virtual or the Education Africa Facebook page for more details on The Festival.

“As a bonus, we’ll be producing a multi-screened video of all participants singing, playing and dancing to a song I have written entitled ‘All around the World’,” says Joan. “We are truly excited to be hosting our first virtual festival in December and look forward to a fantastic first online event.”

For more information visit www.internationalmarimbafestival.org/virtual or call Education Africa on (011) 685-7300.