Botswana: Catholic Choirs to Battle It Out

Botswana: Catholic Choirs to Battle It Out

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)

5 August 2008
Posted to the web 5 August 2008

Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe

Over 10 Catholic Church choirs from the Greater Gaborone area are billed to slug it out this coming weekend in an annual music festival.

The event that will attract a P30 entrance fee for adults and P15 for children will be held on Saturday, Michelle Poloko, the conductor of Christ the King Cathedral Choir, has announced.

"The aim of holding such annual festivals is to ensure the Catholic Church promotes music and friendship amongst the people of God.

Choral music is a maturing art in Botswana and the Catholic Church has taken a giant step to take part in the nurturing of talent and encourage young and old Batswana in this form of art. Music also forms an integral part in the liturgy of the church," the conductor said in a statement.

The festival will draw choirs from all over the Gaborone Diocese of the Catholic Church competing in different categories. Holy Spirit from Mmankgodi and St. Conrad's from Ramotswa will take part in both male and female categories. Section C will see the highest number of choirs participating in this category including Divine Mercy from Metsimotlhabe, St. Theresa from Lobatse, Holy Spirit, Thapelong from Good Hope and Kobamelong from Kopong. The Standard Section will feature Holy Cross from Mogoditshane, Sedibeng from Molepolole and St. Peter's from Gabane.

The Large Section will see participation by Christ the King Cathedral from Gaborone, Corpus Christi from Broadhurst, St. Bernadette's from Gaborone West and St. Conrad's from Ramotswa.

This year's festival will also see choirs such as St. Peter's and Holy Spirit, participating for the first time in the youth section. Each choir will render three songs - a hymn, Western, and vernacular piece. All Western songs are rendered with the accompaniment of a piano.

The songs are drawn from a wide range of composers both locally and internationally. Among others, the large section will be singing "Nettuno S'onori" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a world-renowned composer. In the past, the festival has seen rendition of songs by G.F. Handel, Joseph Hadyn, and Botswana's own Rev. Joseph Macheng and Luka Disho, just to mention but a few.

In an interview with Polokelo, she mentioned that choirs that obtain positions first and second in the songs in each category will proceed to the Inter-Diocesan Music Festival that takes places every December in South Africa, where choirs from Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland participate.

Polokelo said that, the festival is always of a high standard as the choirs start rehearsals in January when they receive the prescribed music.

"I wish to extend an invitation to all Batswana and music lovers out there to join us as we celebrate in song and praise our God with our beautiful voices.

Choral music is an art that needs to be nurtured and supported as it doesn't not only entertain but is also a nation building tool."