The Malay choir season is now in full swing.
Over the past weekend, teams have come and shown their class, fighting for that place in the Top 10.
On a good note, the Cape Malay Choir Board has now logistically enhanced the Velodrome: the stage has been shifted, the sound has been tweaked and the audiences are starting to see eye to eye with the judges.
The last six teams have made their way to the much anticipated Top Ten, which are The Young Men Sporting Club, Legends, Young Caballeros, Rangers, Ottomans, Jonge Studente, Boarding Boys, Strelitzia, Marines and the Young Zinnias.
Once again, there were certain teams who dominated, making the competition for the Silver Fez that much more exciting as the others will really have to haal uit en wys to keep up.
We saw Ottomans walking away with all the first prizes on Friday night, the Boarding Boys taking 30 points to the field, with Sunday belonging to Cabbies who won all the first prizes except the Moppie, which was won by Rangers, giving them a massive tally of 30 points as well.
SILVERWARE: Cabbies won all, except Moppie
This means that the field event segment of the CMCB will be the toughest yet we have witnessed in years.
The points are so tight that any of the top guns could take it, but the surprise package of the season, Legends, are not too far behind and who knows what they still have up their sleeves?
On Sunday night, voorsinger Tashrique de Villiers won his third consecutive first prize for the Rangers.
Many of you might not be aware that once a voorsinger scores a hat trick, the board presents this outstanding individual with a “keeps trophy”.
So, congratulations to one of the newest ambassadors of the Moppie on this achievement and may you continue to entertain the Cape Malay audiences with your charismatic style of moppie singing.
The Caballeros singkoor also gave an outstanding rendition of the Nederlands song, once again proving that if you give the youngsters a chance, they just might deliver.
This is also the weekend that audiences were introduces to a Nederlands protégé: Ashiq Carelse, the son of Ashraf Assie Carelse.
The youngster sang for Parkdales and he blew the roof off the Velodrome and was rewarded with a well-deserved first prize.
This Nederlands legacy delighted so much that, in my opinion, he should be crowned as the find of the season.
Welcome, Ashiq, we are excited to watch you grow.
The youngsters are coming through strong in the Moppie category.
The Boarding Boys’ Mujahid Isaacs, along with their disciplined singpak, also sang his way to first prize.
He can really hit those high notes and with this weapon in his arsenal, coupled with his passion for our culture, he is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in the Top 10.
This weekend coming will be another jam-packed line-up of Malay choirs with the President Cup competition taking place on Saturday at the Velodrome.
I have noticed that this competition is not as well attended as the Top 10 or Top 8, but I hope this year will be different and that we, as lovers of this unique culture, will show our support to these choirs as well.