1000 people, members of youth, school and adult choirs, united to sing a song in honour of the Springboks for the Rugby World Cup.
Stellenbosch, South Africa (25 October 2023) – On the weekend of 21-22 October 2023, the Choral Celebration Network Foundation (CCNF) hosted its third and final UDUMO for the year at Coetzenburg, Stellenbosch. (The previous UDUMO events blessed KZN and Gauteng).
For most participating choirs, UDUMO is a once-in-a-lifetime event to work under seven world-class South African Choral Conductors, to collaborate and network with various choirs from their area. The choirs range from primary school choirs and youth choirs to high school choirs and adult choirs.
UDUMO Western Cape hosted 20 choirs at this event (+- 1000 singers) on the same neutral, non-competitive stage. The choirs might all be from different generations, backgrounds and cultural landscapes, but one thing is sure – they all share an undying love of music.
UDUMO is free of charge for all participating choirs, and all singers are given breakfast, lunch and dinner for the 2 days of the event. To have them come together as a 1000 choir unity at the gala concert at the end of the two days, they also get a free performance t-shirt.
This last UDUMO, however, was extra special. As soon as the Springboks played their way into the finals, UDUMO participant Nduduzo Mkhize and master conductor Bernard Krüger decided to write a song of encouragement to the Boks that was taught to the singers just before the concert. Halfway through the concert, maestro Bernard Krüger had the audience learn the chorus and within minutes had not only the 1000-strong choir sing a spirited Hawu Bokke, my Dali, but also had the audience on their feet participating.
The end result was an epic UDUMO moment, and once CCNF posted a recording of the song on their social channels, social media just exploded with excitement. This video is a testament to how music, like sport, brings people together, regardless of age, gender, colour, religion or life struggles.
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