GREENBORO – Some 600 students from the schools in the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union, as well as home schoolers, were treated to a high-energy, dynamic concert by the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa last Wednesday at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro in morning and early afternoon performances.
This group of 12 teenagers from their home base in the Moutse Valley in rural Limpopo, 120 miles northeast of Johannesburg, were on an international tour. Their previous stop was at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Since their founding in 2009, the choir has provided the opportunity for young people to develop their skills in singing and dancing while sharing their profound messages of hope, love and togetherness. Like Circus Smirkus, the experience also builds “a work ethic and a sense of responsibility ; ; ; self-discipline, self-confidence and leadership.” They combined songs lending South African musical traditions into pop, jazz and rock with sensational dancing in imaginative choreography showing very impressive coordination. They were accompanied by a percussionist and guitar player, as well as their director Ralph Schmidt on electric piano.
The group began the concert with a number about higher love, followed by a piece in English and one of three South African languages, all with a dramatic delivery. The songs featured two female singers and then a male soloist, each having excellent voices.
“God Bless Us With Rain” addressed the very serious effects of drought on subsistence farming that South Africa has had recently done to climate change, a song having a great rhythm and remarkably integrated movements among the dancers.
One of the first popular tunes to come out of South Africa in the 1960s was by Miriam Makeba, with the repeated phrase Ohwimaway, which had a beautiful melody, and it got the children in the audience clapping along with the singers.
“We Will Rise” was an original song to celebrate the evolution of the choir from a remote village to an international attraction. A slower paced number was based on a selection from the classical music repertoire, sung with real feeling. “There Is Nothing That anyone Can Do To Drag Me Away From You” was a love song that concluded this amazing performance, and everyone in the audience rose for a standing ovation in appreciation.
A question and answer session from local students covered a wide range of topics, such as what were their favorite foods, the origins of the group, what they loved about being in the choir, how much time they practiced each day, how they raised money for the tour, what places they have enjoyed visiting the most, where they got water from in a drought, how long it takes to learn the complex dance movements and what are the ages of the members.
Generous sponsors of this unique event were Teaching Learning Solutions, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Jasper Hill Farm and the Highland Lodge.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
