Applied Ethnomusicology Student Part of EUROSA Exchange Programme

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Masters student in Applied Ethnomusicology (Music, School of Arts), Mr Nhlakanipho Ngcobo, is in Vienna, Austria at the Karl - Franzens -Universitat Graz (University of Graz) as part of the EUROSA Mobility Exchange programme.

The programme offers study, training, exchange and research periods at EUROSA Consortium universities in Europe for postgraduate students.

Ngcobo said from Vienna: ‘I have never been to Europe before, this is a new experience for me. It feels good, it’s a once off opportunity and I am looking forward to the next five months. I am experiencing a new culture and learning the official German language. As a music student, I am looking forward to the country's music and cultural events.’

He chose modules related to his field of study and is registered for several cultural exchange programmes within the University as he believes this will enable him to grow as a researcher.

‘I will be closer to students, not only from Austria but from other countries too, hence I will be educating them about our different South African cultural music with the aim of building new audiences, and creating new platforms where our music will be understood and be performed on world stages,’ said Ngcobo.

His supervisor, Dr Patricia Opondo, said: ‘Nhlakanipho, or Skiroz as we fondly refer to him, has made remarkable growth since he started off in the African Music and Dance Program four years ago.  During the first semester of his third year he stood out for his critical and analytical skills in the upper level academic modules.  My external examiner remarked the same, and at that point I was confident that Skiroz was destined for an academic career.

‘He then successfully completed his honours in Applied Ethnomusicology last year and was the youngest presenter at the ICTM Applied Ethnomusicology Symposium at the University of Fort Hare.  His research film was well received and he handled the subsequent discussion with maturity and clarity of mind,’ said Opondo.

‘The UKZN School of Arts graduation in April this year was one of the high points in my challenging years of supervision, as it provided me with testament of proven success in nurturing previous purely performance diploma students and grooming them to become young academics.

‘Securing this competitive EUROSA exchange semester abroad experience gives Skiroz a chance to enter the rigorous global field of academia, and I trust that meeting other masters students at the University of Graz will further enrich his academic journey,’ said Opondo.

Ngcobo’s message to other AMD students is to utilise all available opportunities, respect the AMD discipline, study hard and aim for merits.

‘What makes my supervisor different is that after all my failings, she still believed in me and was willing to write a motivational letter which had a great impact for me to be accepted in this mobility programme. So I believe that the success of a student lies within a student and his or her supervisor. Thank you Dr Opondo!’

 Melissa Mungroo