SABC Cape Town Media Library launches Employee Mental Wellness Initiative

SABC Music Therapy Room launch - Cape Town Library 

A meaningful milestone for the SABC Cape Town Media Library: the official launch of its Employee Mental Wellness Initiative. Built on the strength of their rich and diverse music collection, this programme is designed to promote emotional wellbeing in the workplace.

SABC Music Therapy Room 

Why this initiative matters

This initiative aligns with the SABC Employee Mental Wellness Programme and was developed to support the emotional and psychological health of their staff. It acknowledges the period of challenges faced during the 2021 retrenchments and the challenges during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. By prioritizing wellbeing, they are investing in a healthier, more resilient workplace culture.

What’s included

SABC Music Therapy room

🎵 Weekly Curated Music Playlists

• Each week, they roll out themed playlists crafted to help employees relax, rejuvenate, and relieve stress.
• Music is widely recognized for its healing properties: it can ease anxiety, lift mood, and offer comfort through times of grief or trauma.
• These playlists are a simple, accessible way to incorporate intentional wellness into the workday.

🛋️ Music Therapy Rooms

SABC Music Therapy Room - ambient lighting

• They have established dedicated Music Therapy Rooms within the library.
• Spaces include individual listening booths, comfortable seating, and ambient lighting.
• The goal is to provide calming, immersive environments where staff can take mindful breaks and reconnect with themselves.

Launch highlights

🟢 Successful Launch – 5 August

Thembakazi Ntulini, Principal SABC Music Library Cape Town 

The official launch on 05 August was a success. It was heart-warming to see staff engage with the space and embrace this wellness resource with enthusiasm and appreciation.

More photos from the launch: 

Looking ahead

This marks just the beginning. They are committed to growing the programme to further support the wellbeing of their colleagues. Future plans may include expanding playlist themes, increasing accessibility to the Music Therapy Rooms, and exploring additional wellness activities that complement the music-based approach. The plan is also to open music therapy rooms in all of the regions, and to extend it to SABC in Johannesburg. 

Why this matters to the broader community

• Employee wellbeing drives productivity and morale: When staff feel supported, engagement and performance tend to improve.
• Accessible wellness resources matter: Providing spaces and curated content lowers barriers to taking time for mental health.
• A culture of care resonates beyond the workplace: Wellbeing initiatives can inspire healthier habits at home and in the community.

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If you’d like to learn more or share ideas for future playlists or wellness activities, they would love to hear from you. Let’s continue this journey toward a more mindful and resilient workplace. 

Out with the old, in with the new

A new set of timpani for the SABC Music Library.

By Suzette Lombard,  Principal Music Librarian

The SABC Studio Orchestra with conductor Theo Wendt,
taken in the old SABC studios in Commissioner Street in 1952

Most classical music instruments are made to last, and some do last a lifetime. Many of the instruments in the Library were purchased in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s of the previous century, when the SABC still had its own symphony orchestra.

Some instruments are still working hard, as a lot of regular library clients will be able to testify!

An old Ludwig timp which is being written off

A few of the older timpani or kettle drums have been repaired, overhauled and serviced countless times, but have now finally earned some rest. They will be replaced by a new set of Yamaha concert timpani bought recently.

A new Yamaha timp in its light-weight custom-made transport case

Related posts:

New Yamaha Grand Piano

Acquisition in the SABC Music Library - Paiste Crotales

New Yamaha grand piano

By Suzette Lombard
Principal Music Librarian

Unfortunately even well-made pianos don’t last forever, and in 2012 the SABC Music Library had to say goodbye to one of our collection of pianos, of which the frame had cracked. 

Fortunately we were able to acquire a brand new Yamaha C5 grand piano to replace it.

Yamaha is the world’s largest manufacturers of musical instruments, and has been making pianos since 1897. This piano is a great example of the dedication, vast knowledge, skill and hard work that go into making a modern day concert standard piano. Not only does it have to have a good sound and excellent mechanical action to please even the most demanding pianist, but it also has to look beautiful and be strong and rugged, in order to withstand the constant moving and handling.
A combination of traditional craftsmanship and advanced acoustical technology has made this possible. 

We are looking forward to this beauty’s first performance. 


Photos taken last week Wednesday at the arrival of the new piano.

The Music Librarian looking on

Suzette Lombard

(Photos by Karen du Toit)

Musings in the Music Library #9 - Budgets

by Daniel Neal
Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library


A vignette from the music librarian.

O tempora, O mores!  What we could do if we only had more budget!  

Artscape is now saying they may “renovate” the Library.  Well, they mean the room it’s in.  Considered old, ugly, dissheveled and antiquated (all true), the general upgrade of the entire Artscape Theatre Complex has now noticed another problem to be solved.  Motive?  To make it look modern and impressive, mostly.  

So a budget begins a theoretical dance, beyond my reach; a budget that if given to me would have a very different outcome.  

Like, maybe a full or even part time assistant?  Or lots of new score and parts sets?  

At least I’ve accessed the atmosphere by getting fifty archive boxes with which to re-box all the ballet sets and further to that other outsized local creations (quasi A4 sized parts and scores with huge plastic comb binders…an interesting challenge to fit into any storage facility).  

And look, let’s admit it is wonderful to have real interest in improvements.  

There have been so many retrenchments and closures in the last 18 years that I can drop my suspicious nature for a moment and really be grateful. 

Related posts:

Musings in the Music Library - "Librarians are nice" 

Musings in the music library #7 - Librarian stereotypes

Musings in the Music Library #6 - Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library

Concert - Charl du Plessis Trio with Musa Sakupwanya

Suzette Lombard, Music Librarian
SABC Music Library

With everything in life the novelty eventually wears off. If you attend concerts or shows regularly, you find yourself attending a lot of events that are good and even exceptional, but still leave you fairly cold. But once in a while you might be fortunate enough to hear something that blows you away.

A case in point is the concert I attended last Sunday at the Linder Auditorium. The Johannesburg Musical Society presented a concert featuring the Charl du Plessis Trio with the vocalist Musa Sakupwanya. The all-Gershwin programme was beautifully planned and executed by four extremely talented and accomplished musicians.

To say that I loved it is an understatement. The trio played brilliantly, a wonderful blend of classically-trained polish and honest foot-stompin’ jazz. Charl with inimitable style performed a fiendish arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue in which he was the conductor, pianist and orchestra all rolled into one. Most numbers started with the piano, and with the bass and percussion joining in, one felt surrounded by a warm, luxurious blanket of pure sound. A sense of well-being and absolute enjoyment prevailed throughout.

Some gooseflesh-moments were had when Musa sang songs like S’Wonderful. Musa has the perfect jazz voice, all velvety smooth. But he also has the sense of timing and execution that a true artist needs to keep the audience spellbound, as he proved with Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off. Werner Spies on double bass and Hugo Radyn on drums were by no means left out of the limelight, their accompaniment and improvisations equally impressive.

The trio’s latest CD Shanghai Brunch has won a Ghoema Award and is nominated for a SAMA. When mentioning the CD, Charl spoke about the warmth and personality of the Steinway concert grand piano which he had hired from the SABC for the recording.

Sunday’s programme included favourites like Three Preludes, I Got Plenty O’Nuttin, Someone to Watch Over Me, and Summertime.  And I Got Rhythm. They certainly have!

Musings in the Music Library #5 - Copyright

Another vignette in a series that was sent by a fellow librarian, Daniel Neal from the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library in a mail to the SABC Music Library and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Library.

"Copyright is for the protection of the creator, an esoteric subdivision of legalities that makes Peace in the Middle East quite straightforward by comparison.  

As an introduction, South Africa and Canada recognize copyright as Death (of the creator, author, composer etc) plus Fifty years.  The European Union is now Death + 70, and the United States, in some applications and from certain dates, is Death + 90.  Even if you are a South African entity (like CPO) and you want to hire something out of copyright in South Africa for performance in South Africa, you may have to pay copyright because the Country of Origen of the Hired Material has a longer post-death law in place.  After this, it gets really complicated.  

For those audience members who despair at the relative lack of “modern” (that is, post 1930) music in concert programmes, I do ask that they judge CPO not too harshly.  

At time of writing the average fee for hiring copyright music is R300 per performance minute plus VAT plus Air Freight (usually from the UK), and that is just too expensive.  

Even if all the composers considered are long passed away, their publishing heirs can price their works right off the concert platform."

Related posts:

Musings in the Music Library #4

Musings in the Music Library #3

Musings in the Music Library #2

Musings in the Music Library #1

Musings in the Music Library #2 - Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library

The following vignette was sent by a fellow librarian, Daniel Neal from the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library in a mail to the SABC Music Library and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Library:

"The CPO Library is a rather complex entity, a partially combined form of what had been the CAPAB Library and the CTSO Library that was a result of the merger in 1997 of the then two orchestras of Cape Town.  

Each collection was (and still is) catalogued in its own manner and wasn’t (and still isn’t) cross-indexed.  

On taking up the post of Orchestra Librarian in April 2001 I was immediately lost and often plagued with questions of availability that I was unable to answer; the worst of these coming from people who wanted to know if I had such and such an aria from such and such opera.  Or worse, often a query stated as “you know, THAT aria, for a tenor, I think… maybe Verdi?”  

As it was not quite Hell, but bordering on it, I thought it appropriate to put up a few lines in the plaque that is on the front door.  In Italian, for the benefit, mostly, of those who need arias by yesterday, the lines are from the Divine Comedy. As Dante passes through the gate of Hell, he sees an inscription, the final line of which is the famous phrase

“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”, or “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”.  

To date, not one of the opera aria demanding sorts have ever noticed this, let alone considered and commented upon it."

Related post: 
Musings in the music library #1

Musings in the Music Library #1

Daniel Neal, fellow librarian at the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library.

The following vignette was sent by Daniel Neal from the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra Library in a mail to the SABC Music Library and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra Library:  

"Library collections such as the ones we shepherd are full of stories both practical and mysterious, and their atmospheres are permeated with that musty tinge of stories long gone and never to be recalled.  
Even more so with the three of us, as all three libraries have not come from an unbroken tradition and place of worship nor have we spent our acolyte apprenticeships at the feet of revered Masters who passed on Tradition and Knowledge.  
Coming into this room of mine is sometimes like disturbing a gathering of ghosts who mutter an inaudible and foreign language; I can catch the odd word but miss the grammar entirely.  
I occasionally go beneath the practical and take out some old Elgar score, unplayed for 80 years, and hold it in my hands as if it might speak of musical meanings and events long gone.  
And of course it remains unintelligible, whispering though it does..."

A regular posting of these musings to follow.

Interview with the Principal Librarian, Media Library: Marlene Ungerer – Province Cape Town

Marlene Ungerer
Principal Librarian: SABC Media Library Cape Town

The SABC has branches in the provinces. The upcoming interviews will be addressed to the people of the SABC Media Libraries working in the provinces. The scope and content of their work differs greatly of how we do it here in Auckland Park.

The interview this week is with Marlene Ungerer, the Principal Librarian of the Media Library, Cape Town. She has been with SABC Cape Town for 24 years on the 1st August, 2011.

Marlene, please tell us a little bit about your life and career (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined SABC Cape Town)

I grew up in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.  Both my parents played guitar, piano and sang. My parents made a recording with Teal Trutone in 1955 when I was 6 months old, on a 78”.

My brother won first prize for the battle of the bands when he was 15 years old. He is currently a member of the band “Late Final”.  My sister and I sang in a band in our teens and we had piano lessons with Charles Segal whilst we were at school. Because of my parents influence in music, we obviously are all able to play an instrument or two and we are able to sing. Therefore music was more than a hobby it was a normal activity in our family gatherings and we all have a passion for music.  None of us are able to live without music…it’s in our veins. My knowledge of music goes back to my Grandmother’s era up to the current genre’s we hear today.

I cannot imagine my life without music.  It was coincidental that I started working at the SABC Media Library in August, 1987.

My previous work experience was purely administrative. For example: wages, salaries, creditors and debtors, switchboard, secretary and Personal assistant.

How big is the province you serve?

The Province in Cape Town has a total of 170 employees. The Media library provides services to following Radio Stations: - Good Hope FM, RSG, SAFM and Umhlobo Wenene, including Group Sales and Marketing.

Do you have specific challenges in Cape Town?

Yes, we most certainly do!  Firstly we have only two employees, the Principle Librarian and the Librarian. The biggest challenges are when one of the two is off ill or on leave and the other has to juggle the running of the library, seeing the clients from the Record Companies (who samples us with CD’s), assisting the compilers, attending meetings and finally finding the time to catalogue the new releases.  Cape Town Media Library is one of the few Provinces that has a Principle Librarian that is hands on. At present I am coaching two interns since February and we have been requested to do monthly reports and logbooks for each intern.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What tasks do you give priority to?

The task which is given first priority is ensuring the new releases are catalogued as soon as possible, to enable compilers and borrowers to have prompt access to compile their playlists and programmes. Managing one’s time to give the Record Companies an opportunity to visit and explain the new CD releases, which are given as free samples. At present I need to give my full attention to the interns while coaching them until November of this year.

Tell us more about the collection in the SABC Cape Town Archives and the scope of material that need to be preserved.

Anything we need to archive we send to the SABC in Johannesburg but we do take a keen interest in preserving CD’s that were released from 1980 to 2000, as these CD’s are not replaceable.  Should a borrower need access to a CD which we only have one copy of, we make alternate arrangements to either copy the CD or download the track requested.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.

I have a passion for music and I cannot imagine my life without music. I enjoy every aspect of my job; it is extremely challenging and rewarding to be able to assist people with music requests and knowing that I have the knowledge and experience to find a particular type of genre to suit their programme, drama or an advert. I really couldn’t imagine my life without music.

Why do you prefer working in Cape Town, rather than here in Johannesburg?

I was born and grew up in Cape Town and my parents, children and extended family are all based in Cape Town. Cape Town is the only place I would work and it suits my needs at present. Life throws us so many curve balls, who know; maybe at another time in my life it may warrant a transfer!


Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Interview with Aaron Magoro at the SABC Record Library

Aaron Magoro
SABC Record Library

This is an interview as part of a series of blog posts to gain a better understanding of the SABC Record Library, as well as part of a series of blog posts about the SABC Media Libraries. It is a way of generating a better understanding of what we do in the different sections that we belong to.

The interview this week is with Aaron Magoro, a Record Librarian in the SABC Record library.

The Record Library houses recorded music, previously unavailable, as well as all genres of recorded music, including Jazz, Gospel, Kwaito, Rap, Rave, Classical, World, Light, Mood, Sound Effects and others. The music is regularly accessed by staff and made available to internal clients.

Aaron, please tell us a little bit about your life and career.

I was born in Soweto. I grew up in the township and I attended primary & higher primary school in Soweto. I moved to Mpumalanga where I went to secondary school to obtain my Junior Certificate.
Before I joined the SABC I was at CNA Warehouse supplying different outlets with magazines and newspapers of local and international content. It was very interesting to work in that department. I only worked there for a short period. After I had left I had a call that there were vacancies at the SABC, upon which I applied for a job here.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What music do you give priority to?

A normal day at the office is hectic. We deal with different clients with different needs. Every piece of music to us is a priority as a service to our clients. After I have completed the requests by customers, I do my normal work capturing data. The information being captured is shared with the ten regions of the SABC country wide.

Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve in the record library.

In the library we have a variety of global music. We have a vast collection. It includes the National Anthems of other countries. We came up tops during the Soccer World Cup which was hosted in South Africa. We were the sole independent of the media to rely on in terms of music of other countries.  We receive music as it is presented to us. This point is very important because we don’t limit our collections or censor it.  Different people do research on different projects. It is not up to us to select for them but to cater to their needs of what they require.

Do you struggle with technical difficulties, and if so, what?

Technical difficulties in the record library: It is very few, except for the process and procedures which should be followed very carefully, as well as to remember the password and id users may need in future.

If you have an anecdote about a specific piece of interesting music, please share it with us.

I like a selection of evergreen music with the message of courage; lifting up one’s spirit when you are feeling down. To name a few: Mahalia Jackson, Uncle Satchmo, Brook Benton, Aretha Franklin, and local northern Sotho tradition and township music with a vibe.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.

I enjoy a social life. My daily life at work involves socialising with different people, sharing different ideas and most of the time I assist when more information are required.


Related posts:
Interview with a Record Librarian in the SABC Record Library: Sound effects and mood music
Interview with a Record Librarian at the SABC Record Library: William Rapabi
Interview with a Record Librarian in the SABC Record Library: Justice Muthakhi
Interview with a Systems Administrator at the SABC Record Library: Marinda Wolmarans

Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

Interview with a systems administrator in the SABC Record Library

Marinda Wolmarans
SABC Record Library

This is the second interview as part of a series of blog posts to gain a better understanding of the SABC Record Library, as well as part of a series of blog posts about the SABC Media Libraries. It is a way of generating a better understanding of what we do in the different sections that we belong to.

The interview is with Marinda Wolmarans, a Systems Administrator in the Record library. The SABC Record Library houses recorded music, previously unavailable, as well as all genres of recorded music, including Jazz, Gospel, Kwaito, Rap, Rave, Classical, World, Light, Mood, Sound Effects and others. The music is regularly accessed by staff and made available to internal clients of the SABC.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Record Library)
I was born in JHB. I worked at Trust Bank now Absa and from there started at the SABC.

Please tell us about a normal day in your office.
When I arrive in the morning the first is checking e-mails and regularly during the day as well.  The Regions and JHB send performers and labels to be added on the system to be able to capture the information on the system.  Not one day is the same, some days problems that affects all the Regions will be send via e-mail or I’ll be contacted telephonically to rectify the mistakes made on the systems.  I check CD information and send the mistakes back to the regions and JHB personnel to rectify.  It takes a lot of time because you have to check who added the CD first, everything needs to be written down and checked thoroughly. People need to be focused when capturing of CDs are being done.

What does the future have in store for us digitally?
I can’t wait for the Digital System but I foresee we might have problems with the information on the CD’s and the actual songs on the disc. I hope that all the information that we currently have will be transferred without any major problems.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.
Every day has a different challenge.

Related post:
Interview with a Record Librarian at the SABC record Library

Questions and post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives

Interview with a Record Librarian at the SABC Record Library

This is the first interview as part of a series of blog posts to gain a better understanding of the SABC Record Library, as well as part of a series of blog posts about the SABC Media Libraries. It is a way of generating a better understanding of what we do in the different sections that we belong to.

The interview this week is with Justice Muthakhi, the Record Librarian and Team Leader in the Record library.

The Record Library houses recorded music, previously unavailable, as well as all genres of recorded music, including Jazz, Gospel, Kwaito, Rap, Rave, Classical, World, Light, Mood, Sound Effects and others. The music is regularly accessed by staff and made available to internal clients.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Record Library)
I was born in Venda (Thohoyandou). I attended school from the beginning to standard 9. I obtained Senior Certificate while I was working. I joined the SABC straight from school.   I spent most my life in the music industry as a link between the record companies and the SABC record library. Ordering CDs and dealing with public enquiries. I also capture CD information on the record library system. 
    
Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What music do you give priority to?
Normal day?  I do not have something like that.  Each day has a different call. Although Tuesday is a day for Record companies and independent producers to sample their latest products; some of them come from as far as Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland.  I have to accommodate them any day of the week. This means I could go to the SABC foyer any time of the day.

Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve in the record library.
Our collection  stands at:
Light Music over               59000
Classical Music over          21 600
Transcription discs over     4 000
In our storeroom we have also a collection of LP’s and Seven Singles that are still in use because not all songs are on compact discs.

Do you struggle with technical difficulties, and if so, what?
Yes, change in technology is very fast and for me to keep up the pace is little bit difficult. I would say to have enough time to close the gap is a challenge.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.
To work with people is a challenging situation and interesting as well. I meet different personalities every day and I learn a lot from these individuals.  Sometimes it is painful but at the end they help me to grow spiritually.

 Questions and post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.

The Music Librarian – SABC Media Libraries

This is the third post of a series of posts of interviews with personnel in the SABC Media Libraries. I will be posing the same six questions to all of us.

We have five departments which fall under the SABC Media Libraries here at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. It is the SABC Music Library, the SABC Record Library, the SABC Information Library, the SABC Radio Archives and SABC Audio Restoration.

We work with different types of collections and different formats, and we are not always aware of what our colleagues are doing on a daily basis. This is a way of getting to know each other a little bit better with regards the work we do, and the importance of our collections in the broadcasting sector.

This interview is with Suzette Lombard, the Principal Music Librarian at the Music Library. The SABC Music Library has musical instruments of the highest quality, as well as printed music scores which they rent out to professional orchestras or music organizations on a daily basis.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Music Library)

I grew up in Pretoria. My grandmother was a music teacher and my mother sang part-time for PACT opera, so I was always surrounded by music. I started taking piano lessons when I was 7, and completed a BMus (Performing Arts) and Diploma in Individual Tuition at the University of Pretoria. I taught music in Pretoria and Port Shepstone for several years. Piano and flute were my instruments at university, but during those years there were very few music teachers on the South Coast and I ended up teaching organ, recorder and guitar as well! Very aware of my technical shortcomings on those instruments, I practised and studied as hard as the students, believing (as I still do)  that it was more important for those kids to develop a love for music than to become music virtuosi.

When moving back to Pretoria, I joined the SAPS Band where I played piano, flute and piccolo, regularly performing for heads-of-state and royalty. We did some interesting gigs like police parades and street marches country-wide, but were also lucky enough to perform in Bremen, Germany at the Musikschau der Nationen in 2001. I also played flute and piccolo for the Pro Musica orchestra in Roodepoort for a few years, and loved every minute of actually playing the operas and symphonies I’d grown up with. One of the nicest jobs I’ve ever had was teaching piano and flute at the American International School in Diepsloot, just before joining the SABC.

3. Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve.

As we earn a modest income for the SABC, we believe that service delivery is extremely important, therefore every single query and request we receive is a priority. In any normal day we could receive repertoire queries or requests for quotes, search the catalogue, advise clients on choices of scores and instruments, do the necessary paperwork and dispatch the orders. We rent out orchestral instruments such as timpani, snare drums, tubular bells and tam-tams as well as double basses and pianos. We have a collection of music scores including orchestral, vocal and choral scores and chamber music.

4. Please tell us about a normal day in your office. What material do you give priority to?
 

With the music scores, instruments and equipment going out regularly, there is always something that needs to be repaired or cleaned or fixed-up. Great care must be taken when moving or transporting the equipment, as most of the instruments are valuable and hard to replace. It is also difficult to have some instruments repaired or serviced, as the skills as well as parts needed are not always available in South Africa, which means that we have to source it from overseas.

3. Do you struggle with technical difficulties, and if so, what?

Some of our sheet music collection is very old and fragile, and some scores are irreplaceable, especially some original scores handwritten by prominent South African composers. Due to copyright law, we cannot send out photocopies and thus the original sheet music is used by the orchestra or musicians on stage and there is always a risk that something might get damaged or lost.

We are looking forward to having a digital catalogue to replace the current old-fashioned card catalogue - it would save our clients and us a lot of time! I’m not even talking about the day we could have sheet music available as downloads…

5. If you have an anecdote about a specific piece of interesting music or musical instrument, please share it with us.

There are lots of interesting and funny experiences from when I was in the SAPS Band, but one of the weirdest times was when we opened a new border post on the border with Lesotho. We started marching and playing, probably something like Colonel Bogey March by FJ Rickets. The next moment the band members marching on my left got shorter and shorter and all but disappeared! Luckily after a few seconds they appeared again – it turned out we had marched right through the vehicle inspection pit!

6. Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.

I love working in a music environment and dealing with musicians and composers. The work tasks are so varied that one is never bored, and there is the added bonus that one learns something new about an instrument, or a composer or composition every single day!

Questions and post by Karen du Toit.
Afrikaans Archivist (SABC Radio Archives)

The SABC Music Library – interview with the intern

This is the first post of a series of posts of interviews with personnel in the SABC Media Libraries. I will be posing the same six questions to all of us.

We have five departments which fall under the SABC Media Libraries here at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. It is the SABC Music Library, the SABC Record Library, the SABC Information Library, the SABC Radio Archives and SABC Audio Restoration.

We work with different types of collections and different formats, and we are not always aware of what our colleagues are doing on a daily basis. This is a way of getting to know each other a little bit better with regards the work we do, and the importance of our collections in the broadcasting sector.

My first interview is with our intern that we have at the Music Library. Ignatia Madalane started to work with us just short of a year ago. She is unfortunately leaving us at the end of the month.
The SABC Music Library has musical instruments of the highest quality, as well as printed music scores which they rent out to professional orchestras or music organisations on a daily basis.

Iggy Madalane:

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Music Library)

Hi, I, Iggy, grew up in Witbank, now called Emalahleni (Place of Coal). I studied Business Practice at TUT for a year, then did Cost and Management Accounting, which I never finished because it was choking me. So I went to Wits where I studied music, majoring in classical voice.
Before coming to the SABC, I worked as a tutor at Wits. I also did some office admin work occasionally for the Music department. For the 4 years of my undergraduate studies at Wits, I worked in the SRC office as an office admin assistant. I have done a lot of performing, also as a solo artist. I joined a marimba band in 2005 and with this band we did a lot of performances, such as concerts, theatre productions, workshops, etc. We’ve just returned from Mexico, from participating in the international Marimba Festival which took place in Chiapas in November, 2010. I also had the privilege of working with some of South African’s most revered artists such as Professor Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, with composer, story-teller, ethnomusicologist, Pedro Espi-Sancis, as well as Jeff Maluleke and world renowned and award winning percussionist and composer Lukas Ligeti. 

2. Please tell us about a normal day in your office.

Providing our clients with the best service are our main priority, therefore we do our best to ensure that we provide them with their requests as effectively and efficiently and as promptly as possible.

3. Tell us more about your collection and the scope of material you need to preserve.

I think I can safely say that we need to preserve everything we have, and we need more material. One of these days, I am hoping that we will be able to digitize out collection seeing that everything and everyone is going digital. Companies like Apple and Blackberry are inventing digital music stands, which means that musicians will be moving away from the conventional way of reading music from a piece of paper, to downloading the music directly to their music stands. It’s only a matter of time before the frenzy hits South Africa and I am afraid if we do not get on with the programme we might be left with no business to run.

4. Do you struggle with technical difficulties, and if so, what?

Struggle? Are you kidding? I can go to campus square, buy groceries, come back and bake a cake while the computer is trying to log on.
Secondly, since our catalogue is not digitized, we always find ourselves having to either keep our clients waiting on the phone, or call them back (an expense which can be avoided), because we need to put the phone down and go search the carded catalogue to see if we have the music they require. 

5. If you have an anecdote about a specific piece of interesting music or musical instrument, please share it with us.

Did you know that The Ride of the Valkyries, which is a music except from Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walkure was apparently used by some German soldiers during World War II. They played it just before they attacked in the Battle of Memel. This story was incorporated into the 1979 film Apocalypse Now where the music accompanies the ride of the helicopters while they attack a Vietnamese village. Therefore you might want to think twice before playing Wagner when having your Jewish friends over for dinner. 

6. Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do.

It is only in this field where you can learn something new every single day.

Questions and intro by Karen du Toit (SABC Radio Archivist)

SABC celebrating UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage in the regions as well

Meshack Chili

PRETORIA REGION, 27 October 2010
Meshack Chili, the RBF Music Librarian in SABC Tshwane Region, Hatfield, prepared a small exhibition of UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.
Posters of AVH are being put in the Reception area. The exhibition consists of television coverage pictures of September 11, 2001 attack of US World Trade Centre, the Tsunami Indian Ocean earthquake of 26 December 2004 in Indonesia, the first moonwalk that took place on the 20th of July 1969 by a commander Neil Alden Armstrong and the two pilots Michael Collins and Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. using a rocket call Apollo 11.
The exhibition also consists of old SABC audio recording tapes, beta cam tapes, VHS, Cassettes, lps and seven singles.

He explained the meaning of World Day for audiovisual Heritage and why it is important to us.

Celebrating Chopin

When it comes to western classical music, the first names that anyone can easily shout out are Mozart and Beethoven. Only connoisseur listeners of the music would go further to mention someone like Frederic François Chopin, whom we are paying tribute to this year. Born on 1 March 1810 in the village of Zelazowa Wola, in the Duchy of Warsaw, Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist and is famously known for his piano works. Though born in Poland, Chopin immigrated to France due to the Polish November Uprising in 1830.

Extremely talented people usually have something odd we remember them by. Beethoven went deaf, Alexander the Great was apparently an alcoholic, and Schoenberg was terrified of the number 13. Chopin was the one of the frailest people I have ever heard of. Even as a youth Chopin suffered from ill health and showed early signs of tuberculosis – both his sister and father died of this illness. He eventually succumbed to this chronic lung disease on 17 October 1849.

Chopin also requested for his heart to be taken to his home town Warsaw when he died. His sister, Ludwika, fulfilled this very strange request. Some believe he did this due to the fear of being buried alive, so taking his heart out would ensure that this would not happen.

Despite his poor health (which some believe he inherited from his father) Chopin left a legacy that will last for as long our planet exists. A lot of his music has been used in movies, such as The Pianist (one of my favourite movies). Others include Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (if you haven’t seen this one, go hire it!!); Walk Hard: The story of Dewy Cox; The Prestige and The Contender, to mention just a few. So you may prick your ears when you hear his name, because you are wondering who this man is, but you will have heard some of his music somewhere.

My favourite Chopin piece is his Nocturne in E Minor, Opus 72 No. 1. The music is mellow, tranquil, and melancholic. It reminds me of Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata. It was also used in the movie The Pianist. He wrote this piece in 1827, at age 17. He never intended for it to be published, which is why it was only published in 1855, after his death.

The SABC Music library is proud to have most of the maestro’s compositions, including the Piano Concerto No. 1 in e minor, Opus 11 and Piano Concerto No. 2 in f minor, Opus 21. Virtually all his piano solo works are to be found in the catalogue including the famous Fantasie-Impromptu in C Sharp minor and his Ballades, Barcarolles, Berceuses, Impromptus, Mazurkas, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Preludes and Waltzes.

In addition to all these magnificent works, we recently discovered that we also have his 17 Polish songs, Opus 74, published posthumously. These have been translated to German and include titles like Mädchens Wünsch (The Wish), Frühling (Spring), Mir aus den Augen (Out of my sight), and Das Ringlein (The Ring).

Though Chopin was Polish (with a lot of French thrown in), music was his first language. As one author said, “the piano was his means of communication”. In a letter he wrote to his father, Chopin said “I could express my feelings more easily if they could be put into notes of music”. Therefore, next time you hear an inexplicably beautiful piece of piano music in an ad or movie, it might just happen to be Chopin’s. His “voice” will remain with us forever.

Ignatia Madelane, SABC Music Library