Drakensberg Boys Choir

While in the Drakensberg mountains, as a very special treat, we went to hear to Drakensberg Boys Choir. When they are not on tour, the boys choir holds concerts every Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately for us, they had just returned from Korea on the Tuesday and were holding their first concert back in South Africa.

As we drove from our mountain valley to the valley adjacent, we were excited about what we were about to hear. We’d heard a CD of the boys choir from a friend and knew of their reputation. We were, in fact, blown away by their performance.

The concert was amazing. The discipline, focus and energy of the boys is incredible. And the versatility of their musical gifts is astounding.

The concert began with a Sanctus that seemed to be a mix of classical and African folk. And the concert continued in similar ways. The first half of the concert the boys were dressed in their formal wear, grey pants, white shirt, blue vest and a frilly bib of sorts. They sang some beautiful pieces with crystal clear voices and had simple movements accompanying the pieces. They then moved into some more pop songs: Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Man in the Mirror and a few others. These were not our favourite; we tend to be a little purist.

During intermission some of the boys ‘busked” for our enjoyment while we had coffee, tea, and a muffin. Money from the busking goes towards new instruments. Since you can’t take pictures during the concerts, we took the opportunity during the intermission to snap a few.

The second half of the concert was a focus on African folk songs. This is when we were blown away. The boys were dressed in different African clothes, some in furs and leather, traditional tribal wear, some in mining clothes, and the rest in African style clothing. All except for the boys in tribal wear also wore white gum boots. The boys performed gumboot dancing, drummed all sorts of instruments, and even did a tribute to the Fifa World Cup using soccer balls as their percussion. Their energy was amazing, and all of it was carried by the boys. The conductor, I presume was sitting in the front row, but we saw no sign that he was leading the boys. They moved from song to song quickly and with such focus!

After the concert, souvenir CD in hand, we drove, in the dark, home to our valley. It was a stressful drive home, winding mountain roads without street lights, through a mountain village with people walking along it, and maybe a cow or two, and Jeremy, who had somehow managed to sleep through the entire concert, crying his little heart out most of the way home. Trying to sooth him, I sat in the backseat; it was my turn to sing, this time lullabyes for my little boy.