Drakensberg Boys’ Choir turns 50
THE angelic voices of the world-famous Drakensberg Boys’ Choir (DBC) hit all the right notes this weekend when the school hosted numerous concerts to celebrate its golden anniversary.
Set in the Champagne Valley near Winterton, the school opened its doors to just 21 boys, selected from countrywide auditions in 1967.
Armed with only his passion for music and a dream, founder John Tungay convinced his family to turn their farm into a choir school, which saw them adding a dormitory, dining room, kitchen and classroom to the farmhouse.
“I joined the school in its very first year; I was 10 years old at that time,” said Neil Patrick.
Patrick came from Pretoria to be part of the choir as there was no other school like it in One of the first 21 members of the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir, Neil Patrick, has wonderful memories of his time at the school. South Africa.
“I’d always wanted to be a choir boy and wanted to be part of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, but of course that was never going to happen. So when I heard there would be a choir school opening in the Drakensberg I was out of my mind with excitement,” he recalled.
Patrick was one of 200 Old Boys gathered in the Drakensberg this weekend to commemorate the 50th anniversary. He performed in three different choirs with fellow Old Boys and the current pupils. Daryth Crawford was one of the Old Boys performing during the 50th anniversary concert over the weekend.
“I remember the first day I walked in here, it was magical. Just imagine what it must be like for you at the age of 10 to walk into your fantasy world,” he beamed. He was homesick for a few days, but the Tungay family and his peers made him feel welcome and soon he was enjoying himself.
Kobus Buys, who attended the school in 1981, said: “Being here helped me find my way as a young boy and it shaped me, because the love and passion that I have for music was created and nurtured then.” Artistic director Bernard Krüger is preparing the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir for a six-week tour to Japan next month.
Buys, a part-time music lecturer at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, was in the first choir that toured the US.
“We had a difficult tour. We experienced protests because of apartheid in South Africa but it opened our eyes because, at the age of 10 or 12, we didn’t know anything about apartheid. During the tour we realised that things we considered to be normal at home were not normal anywhere else and it got us thinking; we started questioning things.”
Buys said he would forever be grateful to the founders of the school: “For people to have a vision and the foresight to start a school like this was extraordinary, especially in the 1960s when music wasn’t high on the agenda.”
Bergville resident and current head boy Liam Müller was the only boy in his former school choir before joining the “Drakies”.
“I’m a bit sad about leaving at the end of the year but I’ve had the most fantastic time here… You really become part of the brotherhood and I’m going to miss that but I’ll still be part of the Old Boys,” said the Grade 9 pupil.
He said he was looking forward to the international tour to Japan next month. The choir has been invited on a sixweek tour and will be using the concerts to urge audiences to join in the fight against rhino poaching.
DBC marketing manager Belinda Espag said the school had grown tremendously over the past 50 years and now accommodated 120 pupils from Grades 4–9.
“Some of our classes for next year are already full but we are desperate for boys for The boys grow up in the mountains. Grades 4, 5 and 6. The journey of the boy here is special because they are hand-picked – we travel all over the country on recruitment drives.”
The challenge, she said, was securing scholarships for pupils who had the talent but whose families could not afford the R150 000 annual school fees, which included boarding.
Espag said the school’s secret to success was discipline because the boys did not just sing – they also had to do well in academics and sports. New boys had to pass 25 exams, including singing a solo in front of the school, before they were able to wear the iconic blue and jabot uniform. The blues and jabots are so special, the new boys are not even allowed to touch them.
Old Boys’ Association chairman Daryth Crawford stressed the importance of former pupils being involved in fund-raising projects geared towards uplifting the school.
“For the 50th anniversary we are putting together a commemorative A3 book which is going to cost R380 000 to print, so we have various activities planned, including concerts, to raise funds,” he said.