The Soweto Gospel Choir melds traditional African music and movement with gospel and pop for a unique and energetic performance.
Photos submitted
The Soweto Gospel Choir is not like most choirs.
Its members are not classically trained, and they don't read music.
Yet they've performed with the likes of U2, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Josh Groban, while winning two Grammy awards and reaching No. 1 on Billboard's World Music Charts.
Now, the Soweto, South Africa-based choir is bringing its winning combination to Farthing Auditorium Saturday, Jan. 28, as part of Appalachian State University's 2011-12 Performing Arts Series.
The Soweto Gospel Choir seamlessly melds traditional African music and movement with gospel and pop favorites.
"They're not like most choirs, where they come and they sing," executive producer, director and co-founder Beverly Bryer said in a phone interview from South Africa. "Everything has a movement, a natural movement they've grown up with. It's a show, it's a performance, and it's just an incredible energy."
That energy is also contagious.
"People say, 'I don't know African gospel, I don't know the language,'" Bryer said. "They come out of the show and say it doesn't matter. They just love the music, harmonies, the djembe. It doesn't matter if you're religious or know the language. It's the joy, the uplifting they get from the music."
About 65 percent of the choir's repertoire is traditional African music, Bryer said, but numbers can be deceiving. The group has an uncanny knack for adapting Western styles of music for a sound uniquely its own.
Bryer witnesses this frequently, but one particular instance comes to mind. The Soweto Gospel Choir was to perform with Bono of U2 fame for Archbishop Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebration.
"They were going to back him on 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' and they literally had not heard the song," Bryer said. "They listened to it for 10 minutes, huddled together in a little group, and within 10 minutes they had worked out their own harmonies. And they did it. I don't know how they do it."
But she has an inkling of an idea. Certain African phrasing and words fit surprisingly well into Western music, Bryer said, calling it a natural progression.
"It floors me every time," she said. "It just comes together so easily and so quickly that people hear it and think it's ages and ages of training. Most of the time it isn't, but it sounds just right."
Other musical icons would agree. "Bono thought it was just outstanding," Bryer added.
Bono's not alone. Since its formation in November 2002, the choir has received praise and acclaim the world over, and its talent was recognized from the very get-go.
Beforehand, Bryer was working as a publicist and event coordinator in Australia, where she came in contact with numerous promoters. Upon her return to South Africa, a group of promoters - Andrew Key, David Vigo and the late Clifford Hocking - contacted her, requesting that she and musical director David Mulovhedzi form an African gospel choir to tour Australia.
"The gospel music ... was popular," Bryer said. "David asked if we could do that. My background is in rock and pop music, not this. We only had three months to do it."
During that time, Bryer and Mulovhedzi held auditions and signed 32 performers within a month.
"We went into the studio to record an album ('Voices from Heaven'), and in three months had a group together to tour Australia," she said.
As their shows sold out, the album was reaching No. 1 on the Billboard World Music Charts.
Click here to continue reading
SOURCE: Mountain Times - Frank Ruggiero
