Students from Durban Music School and Guangzhou Tieyi Middle School perform in a concert in Beijing. Photos by Zou Zhongpin / China Daily

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Never too old for a song

Martha hopes that through the tour, Graham and Trevor can "expand their horizons by seeing another part of the world that is so different to what they are used to, and gain a new appreciation of another culture, both in how it is different and how much it is the same".

She aims to fish out her old books and material from her first visit to give to them.

"I have told them stories throughout the years. I think now they will have greater desire to learn more because they have been here themselves."

French horn player Sihle Sithole was particularly taken by Chinese food and drink.

"I didn't know much concerning tea. And the food is so different. I'm curious and would like to learn about China's history and visit more places."

On the tour to Guangzhou and Beijing, the South African youth band played with and listened to the Chinese school's musical students.

"I'm very impressed by all the Chinese instruments," says Russell Scott, the band's conductor. "They're very new to us. Our players get to learn about a different kind of music, and we are equally excited teaching them about our South African music.

"We are trying to travel as much as we can so that more people outside Africa will be exposed to South African music, and at the same time learn as much as we can about other cultures and their music."

The Bishai boys played in the band when Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan visited their school in March last year, during President Xi Jinping's state visit to South Africa as part of his participation at the fifth summit of BRICS countries in the southern city.

Durban Music School is a non-profit organization, and many of its students are orphans, have a disability or come from poor families.

Guangzhou and Durban became sister cities in 2000. Guangzhou Tieyi Middle School and Durban Music School first encountered each other at an international music festival in Vienna in 2009, during which the bands of both schools won awards.

When it encountered financial difficulty in 2011, the Durban school received 500,000 rand ($46,600) from Li Jingmin, chairman of the Durban-Guangzhou Sister Cities Association and general manager of E Home Media.

Zhang Qiqi, who plays flute and piccolo in the Tieyi school band, praised KwaZulu-Natal Youth Wind Band as very professional. "They love music very much. They are full of passion, and these musical exchanges inspire us, too," Zhang says.