The Great Brak River Youth Café has added a modern Sound Studio to its offering. The facility was set up and is run by Max Mamakoko, a well-spoken and energetic young man who hails from the Limpopo province. Music has been an integral part of his life growing up, as his family has always been musically inclined. With ventures into careers in Civil Engineering and Theology, Max found he could not get away from music.
He went on to complete a course with the Creative Arts Academy, this equipped him with a better understanding in music, the arts and its supporting technology and broadened his existingmulti-instrument skillset. He aims to inspire and share these skills with motivated and interested youngsters. The facility offers drums, piano, guitar and vocals, as well as videography, photography, dance and drama. Max equates music to life, both have their rhythm, with the inevitable ups and downs, highs and lows. He aims to do life coaching through music and feels he relates well to youngsters of all ages. Access to this sound production facility, available exclusively at the youth centre, he feels, “should be seen as a privilege and not a right amongst local youngsters”.
As a budding musician you can expect to be singled out during introductory workshops, exhibition days or during planned Friday evening jamming sessions. From here on a one-on-one basis you will be brought into the sound studio and introduced to the available instruments and the mixing and editing equipment. The direction in which a candidate may go will be determined by the areas in which aptitude is shown andfrom here further development can be planned depending on enthusiasm and skill levels attained.
It seems that some exciting audio visual creations will be coming out of the Youth Café’s sound studio shortly. I listened to some incredible sounds, and what to me, looked like complex musical arrangements, all produced in this professional sound studio. Good luck guys!
