The City of London Festival offers rare opportunities to visit historic buildings
in the Square Mile, many of them normally not accessible to the public, nor
used for regular concerts. It was a privilege to visit the magnificent Great
Hall of St Bartholomew's Hospital for an extraordinary UK première
concert given before a packed, ecstatic audience. Two groups of singers,
I Fagiolini, directed by Robert Hollingsworth, an a capella ensemble
from Oxford, and the SDASA Chorale, one of Soweto's most versatile
gospel choirs, combined to provide an unique experience. They had met and
began working together in post-apartheid South Africa, forging a remarkable
musical association between medieval chant and Renaissance song with Zulu
chant and African harmony. In 1995 composers in both groups started responding
with ideas suggesting performance together, and from this collaboration grew
a joint repertoire, recreated in London at this invigorating and unforgettable
concert of musics juxtaposed and intermingled in a heady brew. Theirs is
the most inspiriting manifestation of the "cross-over" movement I have
encountered, and their joint CD Simunye: Music for a Harmonious World,
recorded by Erato in 1997, and deserves a place in every record collection
(Erato 0630-18837-2).
Reviewer
Peter Grahame Woolf
CD review
Simunye - Music for a Harmonious World
 I Fagiolini and the
SDASA Chorale Erato
0630188372U Jehovah. Te Lucis ante terminum. Kwa Zulu Senzeni. Kingdom Come. Libera Nos. Home. Vela. Anon-ah Robyn. Douce Dame Jolie. Khutsho/Agnus De. A clap tour hands. No night there. Dumisa Bayopila. Uma Ngimbona Lomsindisi. Goigotha. A unique association of two radically different sound worlds. This is the first time that this 'traditional' South African repertoire and 'classical' repertoire have been recorded together. Simunye is a Zulu word meaning 'We are one'. |
|
|
This remarkable association between an esteemed a capella ensemble from Oxford and one of Soweto's most versatile gospel choirs came to my attention at the City of London Festival. They had met and began working together in post-apartheid South Africa, forging a remarkable musical association between medieval chant and Renaissance song brought by the British guests to their African hosts, who responded with traditional Zulu harmony and enthusiasm. In 1995 composers in both groups, Roderick Williams and Mokale Koapeng, started conceiving the possibility of performance together. From this collaboration grew a joint repertoire of unforgettable musics juxtaposed and intermingled in a heady brew, captured worthily in this 1997 Erato recording.
Besides Sheppard and Howells sung by I Fagiolini, and traditional
South African hymn and community song given by the full throated young Soweto
students, there are to be enjoyed: Ah Robin, a 16th century
round embellished by a traditional Zulu chant; Mokale's chant for peace combined
with a Western Agnus Dei; the well known SDASA version of The lord is
my Shepherd; Roddy Williams combination of African hymnody with Gibbons'
O Clap your hands; Machaut's Douce Dame combined with cyclic
fragments, creating a multi-layered tapestry of out-of-phase rhythms - -
- and much more. Presentation and recording are impeccable and the combined
sound of these 24 young people is uplifting. If you can't conceive what all
this might sound like, trust and buy - you'll love it! PGW
Return to: