Alvin M. Keeling 
A 30-member community choir from Limpopo will make history in Germany when it performs in the world premiere of a composition by South African-born composer Dr Musa Nkuna at the Kassel International Festival of Choirs and Orchestras on Friday next.
The Malamulele Community Choir will perform Nkuna’s composition Requiem of Hope and Forgivenesswhich revolves around the words and reflections of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on these themes.
The three-day festival is also Nkuna’s first outside of South Africa. Nkuna, who has been based in Germany since 1999, wrote the composition as part of his doctoral dissertation at Nelson Mandela University, which he said was also a tribute to the late wrestling icon and cleric. He graduated in 2021.
The Malumelele Community Choir was formed last August by conductor Peter Mageza, after he failed to resuscitate the Malamulele Evangelical Presbyterian Choir, which was hit by Covid-19.
The church choir, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018, was invited to perform in Germany by Nkuna during the festival in 2019. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the choir could not traveling and subsequent closures marked the end of the church choir.
“We lost two members [of the Malumelele Evangelical Presbyterian Choir] to covid. When I approached the other members last year to resuscitate the church choir, some were not interested in joining the new choir or thought it would not be successful given the challenges we were facing due to of Covid,” he said.
Instead, Mageza approached choirs from other parts of the province to form what is now called the Malamulele Community Choir comprising choristers from Malulemele, Giyani, Nkowankowa, Phalaborwa and Waterval. Only three members of the original church choir remain.
“Thanks to the help of local businessmen, we managed to find financial support for the rehearsals,” he said, adding that due to the different regions the singers come from, they alternate repetitions, which requires transportation and catering.
The youngest member of the choir is 24 years old and the eldest 70 years old.
“We were able to provide transport and food to organize the rehearsal, thanks to the help of local businessmen who covered all our costs.”
Speaking to Sunday World from Germany, Nkuna said he was looking forward to welcoming the choir at the airport.
“It’s a special moment for me. It’s an international first for the Requiem and work with a South African choir to perform a South African composition,” said Nkuna, 49.
“The composition is for soloists, choirs and orchestras. I wrote it quoting Tutu on the themes of hope and forgiveness. This is for those who lost their lives for our freedom and to give hope to the living.
“When I had the idea for the festival… I felt it was necessary to bring the music of African composers to the world.
“There is a lot of choral activity in South Africa and there have been several choirs that have gone overseas to perform specific Beethoven works… but we have our own composers – DC Marivate, Edmund Maswanganyi Leslie Nkuna, Samuel Hlekani – and it’s time to give the world our music.
“They will be accompanied by an orchestra from the city of Kassel. It is also a special moment for me, because I will also be carrying out my Requiem. It is rare to find composers who also conduct. It was normal many years ago. When Mozart was writing his works, he was also expected to conduct.
Nkuna, whose long list of qualifications includes two master’s degrees and a doctorate, has worked in more than 100 theater productions in Europe. He is busy with his second doctorate in musicology.
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Phumla MKize
