The Jive Culture Shock competition has ended after months of preparation by Oddball Concepts and four intense weeks of competition by the participating teams.
The winners of the second season are none other than the cultural music warriors, Washief Losper’s Fairfield Tjommies from Hanover Park.
When the competition started, many Malay choir and Klopse fanatics who tuned in to watch Culture Shock saw the boys from Hanover Park as the underdogs and I definitely did not expect them to win.
Residents should feel proud because one thing about the Tjommies is that they are all about putting Hanover Park on the map and shining a positive light on the area, and they achieved that.
The finale saw some mind-blowing performances from the six participating teams on both Nederlands and Moppie, but because I am not a Nederlands expert, I’ll stay in my lane and walk you through some of the moppies.
The YMA Cultural Entertainers were on another level with both their items, showcasing their two stars - Raees Adams and Mujaahid Isaacs - and proving why they are the present ambassadors of the moppie song.
With sets and costumes being changed onstage and heavenly harmonies filling the auditorium, theirs was definitely a first prize performance.
At one point, both lead singers were sitting inside a Ferrari on the Artscape stage.
Another stellar performance was that of the Los Amigos with a moppie titled Britney wants to sing.
Two of the best moppie performers were on display with a singpak that was confident and polished.
Moenier Adams once again showcased his genius as he portrayed Britney in a quirky, likeable manner and his comical movements had everyone in stitches.
The cleverness in the writing was also showcased when the Los Amigos introduced comedian Ghakeem Roman as Britney’s conscience, motivating her to sing and joining her on dance moves.
The singpak was beautiful to watch and listen to, with a tone second to none.
At that point, I felt sorry for the judges because this was not going to be easy.
But in the end, it was the Tjommies’ heart and commitment and eagerness to learn and improve themselves that stole the show.
Their moppie writer deserves a pat on the back. He took us through so many emotions, in the end leaving us feeling good but still questioning our own demons with regards to this topic.
It started off with a man catching his wife cheating. She then divorces him.
He gives up on life but after his friends motivate him, he goes in search of love again.
He meets a stunning lady, or so he thinks, only to find out she’s a man, when after kissing her he accidentally pulls off her weave on their first date.
He runs off but is left with questions. What if she could love him better than his ex-wife?
He ends up marrying the trans woman and they live happily ever after.
The harmonies were good but unison singing was even better because it helped them to carry every part of their story as a singpak, making the words clearer on the uptempo parts, which made the audience enjoy every part of it.
This is a clear example of “teamwork makes the dream work”. Never did the voorsinger outshine the singpak and never did the other actors overdo anything.
The story is relevant to our times and I think it was very brave of the writer to showcase this to a predominantly Muslim audience.
This is what I believe when it comes to moppies - write a story that can stand up on paper, and then make it clever, brave comical.
All the trimmings in the world can’t win a good story on paper, even if the Tjommies had to sing vrot, they might still have won because what they did was a moppie in the plot itself.
Congrats to the Fairfield Tjommies, you are the pandemic champions of Klopse and Malay choir culture. Slamat, ouens.