GYC Choir Are Champs

Kgomotso Molelekeng | Tuesday October 8, 2013 00:08

Even though all the participating choirs, namely  Maikano Serenaders,  Thakakadu Choristers and Andante Chorus all brought their A-game on stage in an attempt to win the judging panel's hearts only GYS managed to please them as they were crowned the overall winner of the challenge.

The choir challenge was divided into three categories being, the Western, African and Marabi section. All choirs were expected to choose songs from each section and show their ability as a choir on all of them.  After the choirs displayed their strengths on stage, Andante Chorus under the leadership of Lekgotla Dingalo won the Marabi category.

The choir impressed many with their vocal ranges and dancing abilities when they sang a song about the beauty of their country, Botswana.  Their choir master, Dingalo also  impressed the judges as he was later hailed as the best conductor.

The western and African pieces were both clinched by GYS, the choir which was formed in 1997 and is a choral youth choir. The choir is based in Gaborone although it comprises of members from other parts of the country. The choir has so much choral experience as it became the nation's ambassador in 2000 when they conquered Swaziland. They also scooped first position at the SADC Anthem competition where they collaborated with the BDF band.  Under the leadership of Oarabile Bafitlhele, the choir won itself P15,000.  Just behind them was Andante Chorus which came in second and managed to win P10,000 while Maikano Serenaders took position three and won P5,OOO. The losing choir did not go home empty-handed as they also pocketed P2,000.Raymond Tsheko of  UNIGEM, the sponsors, told Showtime that they decided to do a choir challenge as they noticed that choral music is dying bit-by-bit.'In the view of the seemingly quiescent choral music genre in our country, we realised the need to give an artificial respiration to the choral music genre by starting this choir challenge,' he said.