By Rob Hubbard
Twin Cities Pioneer Press
March 7, 2010
While athletic trainers have developed workouts that tone up as much of your body as possible, what do you do when your entire being needs a workout? Not only your body, but your soul, spirit, heart and mind. Well, if you weren’t at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall on Sunday night, then you missed out on a great chance to get one.
That’s where the Soweto Gospel Choir gave all in attendance a thrilling two-hour adrenalin rush, with the 26-person group from South Africa serving up its own unique concoction of traditional African folk and pop with American gospel, RB and a touch of reggae. The choir also set their brightly colored costumes into a swirl of movement, showing off their skills with breathtakingly athletic dancing. It was a performance that proved exhilarating and exhausting and is an early entrant for any list of the most memorable local concerts of 2010.
The group has taken home the traditional world music Grammy twice in the past five years, but their recordings don’t do justice to the excitement that their concerts create. Decked out in more colors than you’ll find in Crayola’s biggest box, the choir took the stage to an explosion of drums and devoted the first part of the evening to a cappella songs of a traditional African flavor. But then the imaginative hybrids started to emerge when some choir members plugged in a guitar, bass and keyboard. Read the rest of this entry »
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Soweto Gospel Choir performs on FOX 2, sharing the rich harmonies and vibrant sounds of the African gospel tradition.
If you like them, you can hear them again at a live performance at Orchestra Hall today, March 1.
Formed in 2002, the Soweto Gospel Choir’s first album, Voices of Heaven , reached the No. 1 spot on Billboards World Music Chart within three weeks of its release in the United States. Since then, the Choir has received multiple awards internationally, including two Grammy Awards in the category of Best Traditional World Music Album for their CDs Blessed and African Spirit. They have toured the world and appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Late Night with Conan OBrien and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Read the rest of this entry »
As a member of South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir, Mandla Modawu has performed on some of the world’s greatest concert stages, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, and in front of some of the most distinguished audiences, including President Bill Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Oprah Winfrey.
But it’s a 2003 show in Cape Town, South Africa, that sticks in his mind. Modawu had just joined the year-old choir as a singer and percussionist when it performed at the 46664 Concert to benefit the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The concert, which took its name from the revered human rights leader’s prison number during the years he spent jailed under apartheid, featured such international superstars as Beyoncé, Queen, Peter Gabriel, and Bono and the Edge from U2.
“You got to meet the stars that are bigger than us,” says Modawu of the day that catapulted the 56-member choir to international fame, “and it was for a good cause, the Mandela Foundation. It’s a win-win situation.”
This Monday, Modawu and a stripped-down version of the group will bring their powerful show, a vibrant spectacle that mixes Western and African gospel traditions, to Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. Read the rest of this entry »
