Mohalenyane Phakela
LOCAL choirs proved they have come of age by beating their South African counterparts in last Sunday’s Standard Lesotho Bank African Melody Festival (SLB AMF) at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre in Maseru.
SLB AMF was launched in 2003 by the Choral Music Federation of Lesotho (CMFL), with the aim of uplifting choral music in Lesotho and in 2014 the contest began accepting entries from South African choirs to reciprocate the invitations extended to Basotho in South African competitions.
The local choirs swept everything in the competition that was segmented into the Large (8 choirs), Standard (12 choirs) and Interdenominational (7 choirs) categories.
Four South African choirs locked horns with four local choirs in the Large Category while two South African choirs competed with 10 locals in the Standard Category.
The winners list was as follows:
Large Category
- Serumula Performing Arts Academy
- Maseru City Choral
- Mohapeloa Singers
Standard Category
- Sounds of the South
- NUL Choir
- Maestro Cantabile
Interdenominational
- Samaria Church Choir
- Maseru LECSA
- St Luke LCYM
CMFL spokesperson Khotola Mokoto said beating South African choirs proved that “local choirs have grown to a level where they can take on any choirs regardless of their origin”.
“I cannot say they had a home ground advantage for they have been able to perform well competing against the same choirs in various South African competitions,” Mokoto told the Weekender this week.
However, Mokoto said the choirs experienced challenges in retaining their members, saying this affected their competency.
“Due to the high rate of unemployment and lack of sponsorship, members of different choirs leave to seek better lives elsewhere, meaning members change from time to time.
“Another thing is some members are still students and they will be busy with examinations making it impossible to attend rehearsals and this affects the choirs,” he said.
He also told the publication that Serumula, which managed to defend their title would continue taking part in future competitions.
Serumula first won the competition in 2012, again in 2013 and 2015. Its conductor Lehlomela Tente confirmed that they will continue to compete in the SLB AMF.
“We have new members every year so we cannot say Serumula has reached that level where it cannot compete locally,” he said.
