Campaign to boost EC choral heritage
Competition seeks to bring unity and uncover new talent
The Eastern Cape government is mounting a strong campaign to restore unity in the fragmented choral music sphere.
The provincial O R Tambo Annual Choir Festival held at the Buffalo City TVET College in Mdantsane on the weekend saw the Eastern Cape Choral Music Association (ECCMA) partnering with the department of sport, recreation, arts & culture (Dsrac). The festival is named after Oliver Tambo, the iconic ANC leader, who was well known as a choir conductor.
The Guild of Choral and Indigenous Music Practitioners in Eastern Cape did not take part, but there is hope that talks between the two provincial choral groups and Dsrac will see the two working together at the festival next year.
Dsrac spokesman Andile Nduna said: “The choir festival was dedicated to the centenary of Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu, celebrating their lives through choral music, [and] social cohesion, youth participation and identifying talent.”
The competing choirs were selected from eight districts.
Two top choirs per category in the mixed voices (large and standard) categories were selected, as well as the winner in all ensembles and gender-based choirs who qualified for the provincial finals.
Each district will be represented by four choirs in the provincial competition.
They will be accompanied by an orchestra.
Dsrac MEC Bulelwa Tunyiswa said the province was campaigning hard to unite and restore choral music to its former glory.
She said disunity in choral music organisations in the province was detrimental to the heritage of the music. A second goal was to create strong and healthy competition among choral music practitioners.
“It is now encouraging to see a willingness to work and cooperate with each other in promoting this musical heritage. These meetings were driven by the department's strategic need to advance and promote choral music in our province,” said Tunyiswa.
Both organisations had made impressive and important strides in developing choral music in the province, said the MEC.
The meeting ended with a commitment to host the annual competition in the first week of December.
Tambo was member of the school choir at St Peter’s in Johannesburg. He was introduced at Embhobeni village in Mbizana to formal music, which became a lifelong activity and hobby.
“Tambo recognised the critical role of culture in the struggle for liberation and encouraged the formation of cultural groups,” said Tunyiswa.
ECCMA president Mayekiso Mangena congratulated the department for ensuring that the festival took place this year.
Tambo recognised the critical role of culture in the struggle for liberation Bulelwa Tunyiswa
Sport, recreation, arts & culture MEC