Participant blog: Impressions of Sweden by Thuthu

“Project Playground was invited to Sweden for a music project by the Musikmakarna.

Two girls were chosen to participate, one is a singer and the other one a song writer;

Nwabisa Masiko and Andisiwe Juta, 16 years old. Two facilitators joined; music and drama coach Mbulelo Mapila and Tutuzelwa Fuku.

The aim was to work with the students from Musikmakarna and create 4 songs together! But we ended up with 9 songs to choose from. We had a very nice experience, we learned how to mix music and the Swedish style of making music. We learned about the Swedish music rights, went inside the studios at music publisher Scandanavian Songs and learned about the history of Swedish music and the industry.

When we were in a brainstorming session we would share ideas about our cultures, about how things are done in South Africa and the Swedish students would also tell us how they do things in Sweden. We talked about culture, education, crime and things in general. Then we would get inspired about what we've talked about and start writing and then record!

We enjoyed the stay, Ulla Sjöström is wonderful and mostly PPG staff, we are blessed to have them in our lives. Sweden is a beautiful country, we love it and the food is amazing.

What we learned in Sweden is to respect time and work hard. That inspired us to work hard, focus and never let your poor background challenge your dreams.”