“As Nelson Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, I had the honor of performing a Concert for him in the Stockholm Concert House together with Cyndee Peters, Eric Bibb, Elise Einarsdotter and Svante Henryson. Nelson Mandela came backstage after the Concert to greet the musicians, He shook our hands and said our music was very encouraging. His hand felt warm and rough after many years of hard work in the limestone quarry at the Robben Island prison.
Nelson Mandela’s dream of a multi ethnic Rainbow Nation is mirrored in this
Celebration Suite that was commissioned for the 20th Anniversary of Democracy in South Africa. It incorporates musical elements from South African Freedom Songs, Folk music, Jazz and Western classical tradition. The power of music serves as a harmonizing connection between cultures that words alone cannot make.
The young musicians of the
MIAGI Youth Orchestra come from all ethnic and economic backgrounds and belong to the born free generation as they have not suffered the oppression of apartheid. To see and hear them
play together is deeply moving and inspires hope for a better future where the rainbow of humanity work together peacefully. After three successful tours in South Africa and Europe the orchestra showed their appreciation by giving me a South African name: Jabulani = Happiness.
That name feels like medicine for a melancholy Swede like me”.
Anders Paulsson
Composer-in-Residence for the MIAGI Youth Orchestra in South Africa
