#KeepingTheDreamAlive
by Sheldon Rocha Leal
My journey into the music business was a long and protracted one. At one point in my history I believed that it would be something that would never happen for me. After leaving high school and embarking on a tertiary education I had basically suppressed my dreams to pursue a career in music. It was only after some long introspection and opportunities granted to me by some very open and embracing people that I found my way. Since then I never looked back.
The music community can be very exclusive, elitist and exclusionary. Fortunately I met people who were willing to give me a chance and granted me the opportunity to follow my music dreams. I therefore decided that if I were ever in a position to offer someone the opportunity to follow their dreams that I would pay, the generosity I experienced, forward.
It also became my career mission to preach to prospective students that music is a viable and sustainable career option and that it does not necessarily encompass what students often envision at the beginning of their studies.
For me, it’s not only important to train the future star performers of the music industry, it is also important to the train the future infrastructure that will support the music stars. This includes teachers, executives, managers, leaders and even the audience (which I feel are an integral part of the creative process).
I therefore pride myself in churning out students who will contribute to the different sectors of the music industry. The more diverse my output the greater I feel my success has been.
I can therefore report that from the above perspective that I have, so far, managed to achieve my career goals. Music students that have graduated from my music schools, in the last 15 years, have attained success at the highest levels within their areas of expertise.
The most obvious successes have been those students who have released successful albums. My students have topped various charts over the years and have worked with some of South Africa’s most legendary musicians. In 2010 four of my students (Pheshy Mnyango, Keamo Padima, Refilwe Morake and Anatii Mnyango) appeared on a project produced by Grammy Award winning musician Lebo M, a World Cup Coca Cola compilation. Refilwe Morake went on to do backing vocals for the legendary Hugh Masakela at a Grammy pre-show concert. In 2007 two of my students appeared on an album released by DJ Cleo: Jodi Goldstein and Candice Gertenbach. Other students have become stars in their own right: Dave Pearce went on to become a member of the house band Pascal & Pearce, Sheldon Sham went on to become a member of the band Rubber Duc, Anatii (SAMA award nominee) released his own solo project, Dale Schnettler became the drummer for the legendary South African SAMA award winning band, Prime Circle.
Yet other students have become prominent contestants in TV reality shows like Idols, South Africa’s Got Talent, The Voice and The Hustle to name but a few…
Vincent Bones won Idols in 2014 (previously he had a major role in the Lion King musical), Daniel Buys was a Top 5 finalist in 2007 (he’s gone on to become a major stage actor appearing as a lead in The Jersey Boys and Saturday Night Fever), Boki Ntsime was a Top4 finalist. Julian Hepburn was a semi-finalist in the first season of SA’s Got Talent in 2010. In 2006 Jeremy Mansfield (a 94.7 DJ) conducted a competition to discover a singer for his boy band, Eastlife. In his quest he discovered one of my students, Jarrid Odendaal (who was also a Top25 finalist in Idols). The same radio station also set out to discover a new voice talent for their station in 2002, and once again they discovered another one of my students, Pabi Maloi. In 2015 two of my past students were finalists in the first season of The Voice South Africa: Abel Knobel and William Loots. Abel was also a member of the successful Afrikaans boy band NRG and William Loots (ATKV Crescendo Finalist) released his own solo side project and a project as part of a SAMA Award nominated band called Soul Proxy (which included two other students JJ van Staden and Ewald Janse van Rensburg). Ewald went on to be a part of another highly successful band called MonArk, who released the No1 iTunes album “Negatives” in 2014.
Various other students have also released successful albums over the years, all-in-all over 30 albums: Starla; Vusi Nova (SAMA award nominee); Yves Manxeba; Kelvin Alston, Daniel and Doulton Robson who have created the band cherryKab; Henri Stander who started the band Vintage Kings; Reyno van der Linde who was part of the recording band Van Smith and previously was in the SAMA nominated Afrikaans rock band Sonsteek, which contained another past student, Cornell Serfontein; Patricia van der Merwe; Mike Stott from the platinum certified band Tweak who also went on to form the band Unwritten Friday; Clint Falconer who is part of the band No Requests; Vern Daysel (real name Werner Deysel); Tebogo Ramokgadi.
Other past students have opted to become career musicians. Entertaining people on cruise liners and other entertainment venues, like the Barnyard theatre. Candice Gertenbach, Devlon Horne (who now is associated with the highly successful Guitar Excellence) and Jaco van Deventer have entertained people on international waters. Kelly Louise Joubert, Cassandra de Beer and Nico Badenhorst are, and have been, regular performers on the Barnyard Theatre circuit. Nick Kendall (previously the lead in the musical “We Will Rock You”), Dario Ferraro and Sakhile Nkosi are professional freelance musicians. Maya Spector is a successful Jazz musician in Cape Town and Chadwin Alexander is currently a highly in demand music producer and director who has produced various shows for TV.
Yet other students have opted to go into teaching and have excelled within this field in the music industry. Tamzyn Lombard (previously van Rooyen) and Tamaryn Green both run their own very successful music schools. Nicola van Staden (previously di Simma) was previously the head of Popular music at the National School of the Arts. Jannie Lategan is the head of Contemporary Music at St John’s College and in his spare time produces shows and runs his own band projects. Ruan Xen is a successful vocal coach and musician who teaches at Dainfern College and runs his own production company. Llewelyn van Eeden is a lecturer at Ross Howard Music and was previously also part of the metal band Conchuda.
Currently I have three students studying music at prominent universities in South Africa: Byron Noemdoe (who has previously graduated from Berklee College of music in Boston) is currently completing his Masters at the University of Pretoria and is gearing up to release his first solo album; Dylan Gibson is doing his BMus at the University of Stellenbosch and JJ Leteane is completing his BMus at the University of Pretoria.
But these are the obvious successes, the ones that stand out more for me are those that have become a success behind the scenes. People like Claudio Neves, who held the position of Head of Global Digital Business for Europe and Africa at Sony international or Jodi Goldstein who currently holds a position within SAMRO as a top executive or Palesa Sibeko who is the director of a Social Media company or Lereko Ntshona who runs his own events and branding company (VIP Guest) or Tamaryn Nicholson who used to work for Universal Records and now works as an agent for the Melissa Conradie Agency working with some of South Africa’s most promising young talent.
These people exclude the multitude of students that have left my schools with a greater understanding of music and the discipline required to create music, people who will populate audiences and assist in keeping the dream alive.
Some people will go their whole lives hoping that they will change one life and I live my life hoping that I will change as many as I touch. I don’t want to be famous, I just want to be able to assist people on their journeys to self-actualisation/discovery and fulfillment. In the process I have had 8 students that have either been nominated or won a SAMA Award, my students have released over 30 albums, topped charts, ran major music organizations or have taught or led some of the top music institutions in South Africa. Not only have they achieved in South Africa they have also achieved internationally and have assisted me in #KeepingTheDreamAlive.
