By ‘Mamohlakola Letuka
MASERU — The Choral Music Federation of Lesotho last Friday held its first awards ceremony to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the African Melody Festival.
The ceremony took place at the Cooperatives College Hall in Maseru. Speaking at the colourful function, the federation’s president, Mpiti Mopeli, said: “The African Melody Festival (AMF) is
one of the big projects which exist within the Choral Federation of Lesotho.
“It was first celebrated in 2003 and sponsored by Standard Bank.”
“In celebration of 10 years of the Festival, we found it fit to appreciate and acknowledge
the contributions of our heroes and heroines by giving out these awards.
“We expect to hold these awards every year from now onwards, and we hope for a bigger and more organised ceremony next time.”
Meanwhile, the awards were divided into eight categories, whose winners stood as follows:
Life composer — The late Dr JP Mohapeloa; Great Personality
— ‘Mamoruti Malie; Great Achievement
— Molefe Motloung; Last Man Standing
— Tšeliso Mokoai; Top AMF winner
— Mohapeloa Singers; Consistent Choir
— Maseru City Chorale; Print Media Personality
— Lerato Matheka and Number
One Supporters — ‘Mamolefi Mofolo and Father Phenethi.
The awards were sponsored by Standard Bank Lesotho and government, through the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture, which facilitated the venue in collaboration with the Ministry
of Trade and Industry, Co-operatives and Marketing.
One of the winners, Mamoruti Malie, said: “These awards have brought about a new love for choral music. They have inspired the youth and choral music singers as they have recognised their hard work and dedication to the Federation and music industry as a whole.”
“It is very humbling to be recognised like this; I was not expecting the award as I cannot even sing. This indeed, came as a great surprise to me.”
