Exchange Participant Testimony: Liv Andrea Hauge
I was in Maputo for nine months for the MOVE exchange program at Music Crossroads Mozambique. It was the best months of my life so far, because of all of music and because Maputo is a cool city with many wonderful people!
At the Music Crossroads Academy, I taught piano, I was part of a girl band and a choir group. Students at the Academy are a lovely group of young people who have true desire to learn. The levels of the students vary and this is clearly noticeable due to the fact that many face problems regarding access to instruments outside the school. This means they do not have the necessary time to practice and reach the level they want. The Academy is therefore a very important arena – the students have access to equipment everyday for learning and training.
Some students study music because they can only think of being musicians, others to have something to do after their studies. It is a known fact that it is difficult to live off of your music in Mozambique; so many have back up options and plans, just in case they can’t support themselves.
When I asked a student at the Academy, Teles Kossa, about what it’s like to be a musician in Mozambique, he replied: “It’s really hard. The problem is not to get gigs, but to get paid. There is also a problem with music as well as all other forms of art – they do not get recognized as a real profession. If I tell people I study music, they do not understand the level or even why.”
The most common response he gets is: “Why? How are you going to feed your family with music?” People are meant to study medicine, economics or engineering.
The school also has areas for improvement, the main one being the lack of space – there are so many students who really, really want to learn! Maputo is a wonderful city for culture, many opportunities to play concerts and hear a lot of good music. This is important environment at the Academy, where playing is becoming a bigger and bigger part of music education for the students.
I have had many nice and interesting conversations with many of the students at the Academy, which I’m certain we all benefited from. There are many differences, but in our hearts we are all the same. We are all young people who want the same thing – play music and have fun!
