We invite you to celebrate a partnership that has been growing and connecting Soest and Cape Town for more than a decade through numerous projects, organizations, and partners.
Together, we want to cherish the bilateral ties between our two countries and create a place for shared memories and interaction, that will carry this friendship into the future.
What is Roots of Music - Musical Diversity?
Roots of Music - Musical Diversity is a long-term musical exchange between musicWays Germany e.V., Musikschule Soest and the Institute for Music and Indigenous Arts Development (IMAD) in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Since 2020, young musicians from Soest and Cape Town have rehearsed, performed and learned from one another's musical traditions, histories and cultures in both countries. The project builds on a wider partnership reaching back more than a decade and turns international exchange into lasting relationships, shared artistic work and new opportunities for young people.
The Benefit Concert
The concert will mark the culmination of the exchange programme, bringing together the project big band, the Kronendal Music Academy band, the Little Giants and renowned Cape Town jazz musicians, alongside further guests and friends. The concert will be followed by a drinks reception and a German-South African jam session bringing together participants and friends. All ticket revenue beyond covered operational costs will benefit the Institute for Music and Indigenous Arts Development (IMAD), Kronendal Music Academy (KMA), and the continuation of musicWays Germany e.V.'s exchange programmes.
The concert will be livestreamed worldwide. Visit the livestream page →
Receive the Final Invitation
Register your interest so that we can send you the final invitation with ticket, programme and livestream information closer to the date.
Presented By
musicWays Germany e.V. connects young people across borders through music, cultural and political exchange. Since 2014, the nonprofit has developed international exchange programmes — including preparations for a European tour by the MIAGI Orchestra (Music is a great Investment), a South African orchestra that brings together young musicians from diverse backgrounds. Since 2025, musicWays Germany e.V. has held the patronage of UniJAZZity, a WDR Jazzpreis-winning youth big band from Westphalia. In Cape Town, the Institute for Music and Indigenous Arts Development (IMAD) has created access to music education for young people since 2007. More than 200 students study instruments and voice with 20 teachers, with a particular focus on Cape Jazz. Through ensembles such as its youth band, the Little Giants, IMAD creates space for making music together, artistic development and potential pathways into professional music careers. In Hout Bay, the Kronendal Music Academy (KMA) provides free daily music education, meals, transport and psychosocial support to more than 100 children from Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg. Its nationally recognised work has enabled several graduates to continue their jazz studies at the University of Cape Town.
Why It Matters
At a time marked by dwindling support for international education and cooperation, spaces for exchange and direct encounters matter more than ever. Roots of Music makes international cooperation tangible: we bring young people together as equals, address unequal access to education, and give a generation the stage it deserves — because it is this generation that will have to live with, and shape, the consequences of today's decisions. The current funding line will end because the German Federal Government has decided to discontinue the German-African Youth Office (Deutsch-Afrikanisches Jugendwerk, DAJW). Continuing the exchange and sustaining the relationships built through it will therefore require new partners and reliable long-term support.
Yours sincerely,
Laurenz Butzke Dep. Chairman musicWays Germany e.V.
George Werner Director Institute for Music and Indigenous Arts Development (IMAD)
Patrick Porsch Director Musikschule Soest
