US ambassadors give R1.2 million grant to SA artists

South African music and traditional artists have been given a massive cash injection after the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) was granted R1.2 million by US ambassadors.

Ambassadors from around the world financed a US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation grant, which is given each year to a deserving global project that seeks to preserve the heritage of music.

Beating out dozens of nominations from around the world, SAMRO's I AM project was selected for this year's grant, which will go towards financing the transcription and documentation of indigenous Southern African music into western notes for preserving and performance.

"We are honoured that we have been chosen for this grant. We have a rich South African musical history and many of the indigenous languages and instruments are at risk of being lost or forgotten so it is our responsibility to preserve these for future musicians and scholars. We are a society of oral history and some of that needs to be preserved before it is lost forever. I think it is that motivation that gave us the edge," SAMRO Managing Director André Le Roux told TshisaLIVE.

US deputy ambassador Jessye Lapenn said that they were impressed with the way the project worked to preserve South African musical culture.

"They are filling a really unique niche and are committed to helping preserve and empower musicians which excited us. It is the idea of knowing where we came from to understand where we are going and that is clear with this project. It empowers musicians to fit into that culture of music and draw inspiration from it," Jessye said.

US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation grant has previously been awarded to several South African projects such as the Conservation of the 20th-Century Lilliesleaf Archive Collection and the Preservation of the 19th-and Early 20th-Century Archives of Inanda Seminary.