WINDHOEK- Jubilant Maranatha Singers landed back at Hosea Kutako Windhoek International Airport after stunning European audiences with an exuberant African performance of indigenous choral music, followed by their participation in the challenging classical, Mozart Requiem.
This unusual encounter left audiences in Budapest flabbergasted, as Africa has always been associated with a taste for monotonous chants and drumming gestures called music from Africa. The Sing Along choral festival is an bi-annual event founded by the Germany-based InterKultur, the Wold’s leading initiator and organiser of international choral competitions. Over the last 25 years since its inception, more than 7000 choirs and over 300 000 singers from 100 nations have taken part in this festival together with the World Choral Games. The famous Wold Choral Games, formerly known as the “Choir Olympics”, is held every two years on different continents and Namibia has participated in the last two events held in China and the USA respectively, successfully, bringing home both Silver and Gold
The Sing Along, not the same as the Choral Games, held in Budapest, attracted close to 2000 singers from countries like the USA, Australia, Israel, Austria, Germany and Hungary. The biggest numbers where from Germany. The Maranatha Singers was the only participating choir from Africa, and was granted the extraordinary opportunity of giving a concert to the participants.
The performance captured the distinguished audience for an unforgettable 30 minutes. For a moment the acclaimed Berlin Radio Choir, the nucleus choir for the event, conducted by the award winning Simon Halsey, was totally on the background, as no comparison could be drawn with what the Maranatha Singers had to offer. The audience could not contain their curiosity and pleasure, as they were shouting uncontrollably above the thundering drumming and footfalls of the exuberant performance, taking the audience through the Ovaherero oviritje rhythms, and Oshivambo chanting, but containing the melodious lines of a well-rehearsed choir.
The choir was totally surrounded by photographers and video makers. Namibia was put on the map, and members of the audience fired the questions, of which some were quite hilarious. For example “Are you dressing like that to your offices?” referring to the Tswana skins. A proven reality was, that there is no better way of promoting Namibia as a touring destination than through its beautiful people, its music and its diverse culture. The music has spoken louder than the high tech presentations about Namibia found around the tables in conference halls.