Impumelelo shines at SA choral fest

26 Jul, 2015 - 00:07 0 Views

The Sunday News

DESPITE lack of appreciation back home in Zimbabwe, Impumelelo Shining Stars seems to have garnered international support, after mesmerising South African fans with their stupendous and energy filled imbube act.

The group, which is presently touring South Africa, not only managed to leave the fans clamouring for more, they struck a deal that is likely going to see them tour USA.

It was immediately after they performed one of their songs — Come Back Home — at the Ihlombe South African Choral Festival at the Regina Mundi Reformed Church in Rockville, Soweto, that the organisers of the festival, who are American, noticed their talent.

Ihlombe Choral Festival is recognised as one of the biggest annual international choral festivals in Southern Africa and has been running for the past seven years.

Livening up a session that was lukewarm and somewhat boring, Impumelelo managed with so much ease to send the crowd into delirium with their performance.

The audience screamed and ululated as the group churned out their songs coupled with electrifying dances.

They performed alongside other invited groups such as Imbizo, which is also from Zimbabwe, Imilionji kaNtu Choral Society (South Africa) and Soul Sounds from Sri Lanka.

The festival is organised by an American organisation — Classical Moments – whose director of international projects Johan van Zyl said they had a mandate to promote and share the world’s cultures through such events.

“Since the inception of this project years ago, we have been to 140 countries throughout the globe. We organise choral festivals and competitions. We have been touring South Africa since 1994 and we greatly admire the beautiful and diverse choral traditions of the different cultures. Having Zimbabwe on board this year brought icing to the cake and we hope to expand to Zimbabwe and work with many more groups.

“We feel that these cultural exchange programmes play a vital role in building friendships across the nations of the world,” said van Zyl.

He said they had over 40 000 supporters across the globe, with many European countries yearning for African entertainment.

“We hope to sign agreements with some of the touring groups so that we are able to take them on intercontinental tours,” he said.

Van Zyl added that the festivals were open to established choirs from all over the world.

“Choirs perform at the best concert halls and cathedrals and they will experience new styles of music and culture,” he said.

Impumelelo Shining Stars’ founding member Oscar Siziba said they were glad to have made an international impact at the festival.

“In as much as we may have some following back home, for the little time we have been here the people appreciate us,” he said.

Siziba went on to talk about their show at Hillbrow Theatre.

“The show was exciting as you witnessed. We had a fiesta performing alongside other artistes from Zimbabwe based here. There is so much talent and we hope to collaborate with some of these groups soon,” said Siziba.

The show held at Hillbrow Theatre, which has become home for many artistes, was organised and funded by Zimbabwean farmer and entrepreneur, Butho Dube.

The show was attended by at least 800 Zimbabwean and South African nationals.

“We need to come to the rescue of some of our Zimbabwean talented artistes. Some of them are not making it in the industry not because they do not have the talent but because there are no shows and are not appreciated back home. For groups such as Impumelelo, they promote and uphold a culture, which if not preserved could face extinction in Zimbabwe,” said Dube.

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds