Soweto Gospel Choir

u must listen to thapelo?! e all-male a capella ws sooooo gud. can die lah they sound so good. altho sometimes i thot ey sound like ey are singing some ordinary vocal arrangment - or even hillsongs! cos ey sound like many other church songs. but den ey have damn good voices lar.

Posted on Wed 31 Oct 2007 15:58:45

went to see them at the esplanade. such a shame as there werent many people there. the opening number that my jaw literally dropped. a friend from south african told me he caught them in sydney and that soweto is one of the roughest townships in jo'burg. the choir gives lots to charity, apparently over US$200,000 to their old neighbourhood. the distinctive soulful, undulating harmonies were so tight. at one stage the 5 basses sounded like just one voice. and at any one time you can see that each memebr of the choir is giving 300% into their performance. loved how the conductor -this tiny little guy- would stand in front of them to conduct and then dance his way back to his place with the rest! every member is a multi-tasker. the singers also play drums, piano, guitar and dance, (that awesome jumping zulu dance with the jazz hands!). im pretty sure every member of the choir did a solo.... a shame though as they are slightly less "african" sounding that i was hoping. african chords are different and more tonal from the ones we're used to (they use one less tone too) and i was hoping to hear more of this, but some arrangements were very very westernised. Probably because the choir was founded by an australian. what a thrill to hear them do the lion sleeps tonight and amazing grace. WOW. and the OH Happy Day finale! i was holding back tears.... would be interesting to see how the gospel choirs of lousiana and america's south are different from/similar to african gospels.... now just have to hope lady smith black mombasa will come to the next sun festival....

Posted on Mon 29 Oct 2007 22:34:33