Two-time Grammy-Winning Soweto Gospel Choir Comes to Wilmington

Two members of the The Soweto Gospel Choir, winner of two Grammy Awards, stopped by WHQR studios on Tuesday. They spoke with Rachel Lewis Hilburn about singing with a mission, traveling the world, and what it’s like to perform with/for internationally-renowned luminaries like U-2′s Bono and Nelson Mandela.

The Soweto Gospel Choir performs at UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium Tuesday, January 24th at 8 PM.

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By Melissa Wilson
Special to the Toronto Star
Jan 19, 2012

They’ve won two Grammys and an Emmy, performed around the world with the likes of Bono, Céline Dion, Josh Groban and Peter Gabriel, and this year they’ll celebrate their tenth anniversary together. The Soweto Gospel Choir might actually be the most successful group you’ve never heard of.

With roots planted firmly in South Africa, the Soweto Gospel Choir is a 24-piece gospel group that performs a combination of traditional African music and contemporary tunes, all with an overwhelming dose of South African flair. The Choir’s newest show, African Grace, will be performing in Toronto for two nights only, February 24 and 25, at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. (A third Ontario show will be in Kingston at the Regina Rosen Auditorium on February 23.)

Concert-goers can expect the two-hour show to be “high-energy and carry a powerful message that is proudly South African,” according to tenor Shimmy Jiyane, the group’s musical leader and choreographer and founding member of the Choir.

It’s likely you’ve already heard the Choir without realizing it. In 2008, it collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the song Down to Earth, featured on the WALL-E soundtrack, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Movie Song. The Choir played at that year’s awards show. The Choir also performed with Akon for the song Oh, Africa, which became one of the official songs of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In 2011, they backed Josh Groban during two live shows in Sun City, South Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

By Frank Ruggiero
Mountain Times
January 19, 2012

The Soweto Gospel Choir is not like most choirs.

Its members are not classically trained, and they don’t read music.

Yet they’ve performed with the likes of U2, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Josh Groban, while winning two Grammy awards and reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s World Music Charts.

Now, the Soweto, South Africa-based choir is bringing its winning combination to Farthing Auditorium Saturday, Jan. 28, as part of Appalachian State University’s 2011-12 Performing Arts Series.

The Soweto Gospel Choir seamlessly melds traditional African music and movement with gospel and pop favorites.

“They’re not like most choirs, where they come and they sing,” executive producer, director and co-founder Beverly Bryer said in a phone interview from South Africa. “Everything has a movement, a natural movement they’ve grown up with. It’s a show, it’s a performance, and it’s just an incredible energy.”

That energy is also contagious.

“People say, ‘I don’t know African gospel, I don’t know the language,’” Bryer said. “They come out of the show and say it doesn’t matter. They just love the music, harmonies, the djembe. It doesn’t matter if you’re religious or know the language. It’s the joy, the uplifting they get from the music.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Steve Wildsmith
The Daily Times
January 18, 2012

It’s a chorus of voices that transcends skin color, language barrier, cultural divide.

The members of the Soweto Gospel Choir, which comes to East Tennessee next week, may be from Africa, and the members may sing in six of the 11 official languages of their native land, but the emotion behind every song is undeniable.

It’s the sound of primal joy, lifted from grateful hearts and extended to touch the hearts of those in attendance. It’s the purity of grateful souls reverberating with love for one God. It’s the call to a brotherhood of one people, joined in spirit and united in peace.

For singer and dancer Shimmy Jiyane, who has been with the choir since its inception in 2002, a performance by the Soweto Gospel Choir is less of a performance and more like a worship service — for both the audience members and those on the stage.

“In South Africa, we’ve got different cultures (and) we’ve got 11 official languages,” he told The Daily Times last week during a phone interview to his home in South Africa. “In our show, we sing in six of those. But those languages, those cultures, they can touch souls all over the world. We in South Africa, when it comes to rhythm, that’s what we master. That’s what we love.

“But whatever that we do, we try to make sure it reaches someone who is there. That’s why, when you come to our shows, you’ll see the beautiful smiles, you’ll see the colorful costumes and you’ll hear this beautiful music from this choir. When you’re sitting there and you’re hearing those voices, they’re going to reach out to you.” Read the rest of this entry »