There were days during tho depths of the COVID-19 pandemic when the members of the Soweto Gospel Choir wondered when they would ever sing again.
The three-time Grammy winners from South Africa, who have collaborated with Beyonce, Pharrell Williams, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2, were touring Australia when live performances came to a screeching halt in late February 2020. But for two dates this summer in the United Kingdom, the choir hasn’t toured since.
But the singers never lost faith. And that, rewarded, will soon be on display – Oct. 14 in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at Saint John’s University. It’s the first of a dozen events on the 2022-23 Fine Arts Performance series.
Significantly, the show is titled “Hope, It’s Been a Long Time Coming,” and Bongani Ncube, a manager and singer for the choir, said that’s an apt description of what the group has been through and also what it’s trying to convey.
“Giving up is not an option,” said Ncube, also a bass player and dancer, who has been involved with the choir since 2008. “Failure, loss and pain may be part of our lives but so is joy, peace and happiness – and, of course, hope. It’s when we have hope that we actually regain our strength to push forward no matter the hardships.”
He spoke just before the choir embarked on the first of two separate simultaneous 2022 tours. One will range all over the U.S. and Canada, while the other plays the UK and Europe. Prior to this fall, the group hadn’t sung in America since December 2018, and the last time the singers performed in Minnesota was March 13-14, 2014, in the Benedicta Arts Center at the College of Saint Benedict.
The group derives its name and hails from South West Township, a town outside Johannesburg, South Africa. Their show will feature a strong influence from their latest album “Freedom,” which won a Grammy for Best World Music Album in 2019. It includes songs that commemorate South Africa’s Freedom Movement, and the tour also will highlight the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the parallels between the two.
“There is a lot in common between the struggle for freedom in South Africa and the fight for civil rights in the U.S.,” said Ncube, one of 25 singers on the North American tour. “Our freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King shared many sentiments as far as the struggle for liberation and unification of the people of diverse culture and ethnicity. Their basic ideals were to bridge the economic gaps between black and white in both countries. The idea was to manage the inequalities in the most respectable ways possible. Humanity was the key word.
“Many of the ordinary people being repressed in both countries had no other means of expressing themselves except through their song. Music is very powerful for heart-felt expression and a peaceful form of opposition.”
“They seem to have always been able to convey controversial messages through their music, talent and creativity,” Ncube said. “They made it a house activity to tell their stories as they are. That is what we are doing as Soweto Gospel Choir. Every chance to be on stage is an opportunity to tell our story as it is.”
The Soweto Gospel Choir formed in 2002, when its first album “Voices of Heaven” hit No. 1 on the Billboard World Music Chart. In 2007, the singers won a Grammy for best traditional world music with their second CD, “Blessed.” They won a second Grammy for their third album, “African Spirit.” They also won an Emmy for a promotional campaign with the 2010 World Cup, were nominated for an Oscar for the song “Down to Earth” from the 2009 movie Wall-E and have been associated with three other Grammy-winning performances – two by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and another by Peter Gabriel.
SET LIST INCLUDES AMERICAN SOUL CLASSICS
Tickets available for $8 to CSB and SJU students: lhanlon@csbsju.edu/ www.csbsju.edu/expect
