Stirling hopes for high note at Applous
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THE Stirling Primary and High School chamber choirs will be part of the many voices singing in the harmony section of the ATKV Applous competition’s finals held in Pretoria in August.
After weeks of regional rounds with 188 choirs competing nationally, the choirs are the only two that have been selected to represent the province.
No strangers to the music scene, the choirs have caused waves nationally with their music ensembles.
The two choirs are heading for the finals for the third time in a row, hopefully to bag more successes this year.
In 2015, the junior choir walked away with second place, and won the Best African Performance trophy for their rendition of Miriam Makeba’s Pata Pata.
Last year saw the high school choir also bagging second place, as well as a trophy for Best NonAfrikaans school choir.
Primary school choirmaster Gugu Makhatini said the young pupils were “overjoyed as they’d been waiting in anticipation for a response.”
“We’ve already started preparing and are working hard, perfecting our sound and building a positive working relationship with one another.”
Makhatini said the feedback from competition adjudicators helped them strengthen their craft and do things differently.
“We go back to the drawing board to perfect our technique.”
She said the competition was strict with the pronunciation of Afrikaans words, something the pupils had already started working on.
Stirling High School principal Alan Webster said: “We are so proud of our choirs making it to the finals, and hope they repeat their amazing performance again this year.” —