The St Mary’s DSG in Kloof recently held their high school open day for 2020 and as a treat for all their visitors, the school choir gave a phenomenal performance.
Kloof, KwaZulu-Natal – St Mary’s DSG held their high school open day recently, and to offer the attendees a taste of their cultural extra murals, the school choir performed a beautiful rendition of “(Something Inside) So Strong” by Labi Siffre.
The repertoire chosen for the Scenic Folklore programme were traditional songs that were reinterpreted.
The programme tells a story about a girl who is lured into human trafficking and slavery through a trusted friend or boyfriend, where trying to escape is often impossible. The audience was then taken through a journey of the pain of deception, separation from loved ones and imprisonment, followed by hope for freedom and justice. The programme was emotive and powerful.
“This has been an incredible learning experience for the Saints girls. Their commitment, patience and teamwork were all necessary and they have seen the value in working toward something bigger than oneself. The songs and choreography were all chosen to raise awareness of Human Trafficking and modern-day slavery. The St Mary’s DSG Choir dedicated their programme to the fight against human trafficking. St Mary’s have been working with A21 Campaign in this awareness campaign and are grateful for the exposure this will bring to the issue.”
Their school choir was crowned the World Champions in the Scenic Folklore category at the 2018 World Choir Games in Tshwane on 7th July. With an overall points position of 83.50 points the choir were awarded a special “Champion of the World Choir Games” Protea-inspired trophy and a gold medal. The choir also achieved a silver medal in the Scenic Pop category.
This year the Choir have started working towards the World Choir Games 2020 in Flanders, Belgium. The Choir performed a beautiful rendition of “(Something Inside) So Strong” at their Open Day recently. So Strong is a 1987 single written and recorded by British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre. The song was written in 1984, inspired by a television documentary on Apartheid South Africa seen by Siffre in which white soldiers were filmed shooting at black civilians in the street. This is an incredibly powerful song that was performed with passion and understanding, especially heard through our soloists Sikelelwe Jarana (Grade 9) and Alande Mkhize (Grade 11).
Take a look at their performance below.