The choir helping school boys find their voice, and their tribe

When Omar Laksono moved to Australia from Indonesia two years ago, he was pretty miserable until he taught himself to play the piano and sing. He’d never learnt music before.

When his teachers at Mascot’s JJ Cahill Memorial High School heard the Year 10 student perform, they encouraged him to put his hand up for an annual boys vocal program, run by the NSW Department of Education Arts Unit.

Omar Laksono from Mascot’s JJ Cahill Memorial High School performs for the other students.Credit: James Brickwood

“I’m the only kid from my school which makes me feel really proud, I didn’t expect to get a solo part, because it’s 150 boys against me. I find boys try to act tough but when they start singing they melt into big softies,” Laksono said.

Choir master Stuart Davis, who has run the program for a decade now, has taken boys from all over Sydney who have often never sung before, and created a little bit of life-changing magic for many who may be struggling at school and outside of it.

Public school students ranging from year 5 to 12 from some of the most disadvantaged public schools from places like Macquarie Fields and Campbelltown, sing in unison with those from the likes of Moss Vale, Lucas Heights and Rose Bay, for three days straight.

Each year, Davis arranges a song for them to perform that’s recorded into a music video at Trackdown Studios at Moore Park and distributed online.

This year that song is Follow Your Dreams, released on Friday and composed by Ocean Lim, from Northmead Creative and Performing Arts High School.

Each student also gets a chance to perform their own material, and each year Davis is moved to tears when he sees kids like Omar and Ocean transform.

Laksono says the lyrics he sings in his solo have particular resonance for him:
And I think you should know that you are fabulous,
We carry something spectacular inside of us,
So don’t hesitate just follow your dreams.

While he’s learnt “singing is escapism” it’s also helped him cope with school and life in a new country.

Choir master Stuart Davis teaching the song Follow Your Dreams.Credit: James Brickwood

“I was meant to be around music. I’d love to have a career in music to support the family I have right now and the family I will have in the future,” he said.

Ocean, a Year 11 student who plays the guitar and sings in the song he wrote just after COVID lockdown when he was in year 9, said boys don’t often get the opportunity to sing without judgement.

“All the boys singing my song Follow Your Dreams is just mesmerising. When I hear all those sweet voices and the deeper voices from the tall boys it is just amazing ... I feel like we are in great harmony,” Lim said.

With a mother who is a piano teacher and a father who runs the Australian/Korean Theatre Company, the North Rocks student says he wanted to use music, including rap lyrics, to share his encouraging message, especially to young men.

“It’s about not caring what others think, whatever age and gender you are it doesn’t really matter if you get the opportunity to follow your dreams, follow it,” he said.

This is the third year running that Jules Cross in Year 12 from Lucas Heights Community School has taken part in the singing program.

“I guess maybe boys don’t sing because toxic masculinity causes them to be discouraged at a young age...I think that is a really great shame, so I’m glad the boys vocal program is an opportunity for talent to be nurtured.”

Davis said the students get much more out of it than just learning to sing in a choir.

Omar Laksono steps up to the microphone for a solo. Credit: James Brickwood

“It’s also about the boys finding their tribe, making new friends with the same interests, and having the courage to get up and perform their own songs for their peers.

“Every year the boys blow me away. It’s always the highlight of my working year. I always cry when I see the video.

“I’d like to think the seeds planted 10 years ago are now mature trees, spreading musical seeds wherever they go - that’s how music takes hold in a culture. We desperately need that, particularly in boys and men.”

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