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Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu, Sunday Leisure Reporter
BULAWAYO Choral Music Group (BCMG) last Saturday held an awards ceremony to commemorate their one year of existence in the industry.
The commemorations were also a platform to revive the genre, which had almost been pushed into extinction in Bulawayo.
In an interview BCMG spokesperson Nkosana Mlibazi said the ceremony was meant to motivate the few existing BCMG group members to rekindle the genre in the city.
“Unlike in Harare and other cities, in Bulawayo there were no choral groups until a year ago, when the founder of BCMG — Busani Nkomo sprung an idea to form our choral music group. Now that we have a choral group existing we want to acknowledge and appreciate all the work done by the members and also motivate them to continue doing the great job they are doing,” said Mlibazi.
Mlibazi said choral music was the foundation to any form of music.
“We chose choral music because in our understanding choral music is the basis for every music genre on earth. Last year we conducted auditions in Bulawayo and we managed to form our group. This ceremony was also held to acknowledge the existence of our members and also to encourage them to do more in the industry,” he said.
Mlibazi said they were in the process of recruiting more members in an endevour to build an empire in the industry.
“We are mainly focusing on the young generation, consequently we are targeting schools, where we will not only be teaching them but recruiting them into the industry so that they grow with it. We wish to even establish a choir that is comprised of young school children to keep the music genre alive,” he said.
Mlibazi added that as part of diversifying, they had partnered with local traditional groups such as Kwabatsha Dance Group and Umkhathi Theatre Company.
The group has been taking part in choral music competitions in and around the country.
Last year BCMG participated in an international choral competition held in Polokwane, South Africa and emerged 5th out of a brood of groups from across Southern Africa.
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