On Wednesday night, a historical meeting took place in Bo-Kaap for the Cape Malay Choir Board.
The venue was filled by representatives of all the teams and the meeting was run by the president, Shafiek April, and his board.
The get-together was to launch a new Cape Malay Choirs competition which will take place at the Artscape Theatre.
The mid-year competition will take place in September, after the usual competition between March and April.
The significance of the new event lies in the venue where it is set to take place.
This will be the first time that a competition of this nature takes place in a “professional” theatre like the Artscape.
The previous time a mid-year competition was held at the Three Arts Theatre, many years ago.
Mr. April said that he and his board see the move to the Artscape as a step up, a chance to showcase the talents within the board on a professional platform and also to show that they are capable of running events on a professional level.
I am, however, excited to see just how much the Artscape with its different artistic facilities will enhance the showcase and lift our choirs to new heights.
It will be fantastic to watch this competition in a proper venue with good sound engineering and professional lighting.
Mr. April says: “You will get a sound check but because we are governed strictly by time, no team can delay by doing half an hour sound checks, dis oploop en sing.”
The normal competition rules will apply and choirs are expected to dress up as if there is a Best Dress kop up for grabs.
With regards to the singing, the criteria remains the same for all items.
The board has taken into consideration that it’s the middle of the year and that teams might be struggling to practice, so they will only be performing three items each.
The categories include the Combine Chorus, the Nederlandslied and the Moppie.
The Cape Malay Choir Board consists of 20 teams, but at the moment only 10 teams have confirmed they will be participating.
Some of the teams’ members are busy with gadj and umrah duties, as it’s now gadj season, while others are struggling to get their members to attend practices.
I think this mid-year bash is going to be great, and next year teams will want to make the necessary arrangements to take part. After all, this is new territory and has tremendous growth potential.
The competition, which will be called the Cape Malay Choir Board Heritage Cup, will take place over two nights, on 7 and 8 September, and new judges will be announced.
Tickets, at R90, will be available from Computicket.
The teams participating on Friday, 7 September are the Young Zinnias, Young Men, Parkdales, Rangers and Legends.
On Saturday, 8 September, the Young Cabelleros, Ottomans, Marines, Boarding Boys and Shoprite Jonge Studente will strut their stuff.
With that said, I think it’s long overdue for our beloved culture to venture into spaces that suit the standard on which we perform.
It adds even more dignity and respect to a culture which we all respect.
We have always been working hard, year in and year out, practising night and day, to give our best, and now, all this can be appreciated in a space deserving of our talent.
We know the torrid apartheid history of this country, and we know that for the Cape Malay choirs to be at the Nico Malan (renamed Artscape) used to be unheard of.
Yet here we are, in the new South Africa, on the verge of writing our own history.
And when those two shows are over in September, we all would have crossed a bridge which not too long ago, we were not allowed to step on at all.
So, big up and much respect to Shafiek April and the Cape Malay Choir Board. May this be the first of many, onwards and upwards.