Lord Comforters rise once again

EASTERN Cape’s oncepopular gospel outfit the Lord Comforters are staging a “comeback” show at the Steve Biko Centre in Ginsburg on Saturday.

Group leader Thembalethu Ngalwana said their fans could definitely expect to hear their old favourites, and sung by familiar members of the group.

However, the purpose of the show was also to introduce a few new faces, as well as a new style that the group had been practising.

The show will feature singers like Vee Sholo (of Amawa Neentaba fame) as well as awardwinning Ntethelelo Mposwa.

“Some of the old members are not around Zwelitsha and surrounding areas, and some are busy with other commitments. But we had a meeting with all the members and decided to recruit new people who will carry the brand of the group forward,” he said.

Ngalwana said it had been a long time since the group was last in the public eye, and they were thoroughly looking forward to a return to the stage.

“We are relaunching the Lord Comforters.

“Our supporters should know the group is still here,” he said, adding that many fans had been asking whether they still existed.

“The group has always been there, but unforeseen circumstances meant that things were not [the] same as when we first started,” he said.

Ngalwana said their latest album, released in 2014, was called Ndingene.

“It was not very well promoted because members were in different places and we could not meet as often as we would have liked to,” he explained.

Before that the Zwelitsha-based group last recorded an album almost 10 years ago.

The group was discovered by Rebecca Malone’s producer, Sizwe Zako, in 1995.

They released their first album, Noyana, back in 1996.

Led by Veliswa Skeyi and Phumla Mfene, the group became a household name, with their hits including Mandi-hambe Nawe, Thula Moya and Ngingumfo-kazi among many. Their albums include Hallelujah, Thel’-umoya, Thal’isipham-bano and Ngeny’imini. They travelled the country and neighbouring countries like eSwatini, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, thrilling thousands of gospel music lovers with their unique Eastern Cape traditional style.

The group, together with East Londonbased Youth With A Mission, took the country by storm in the mid-1990s, releasing hit after hit.

They were among the first gospel groups in the province to record an album and have their music featured on national radio stations and on TV.

The show starts at noon and tickets are selling for R100.