Zim participates in Chinese chorus fest

The 21-member choir was scheduled to perform their four-part Chinese song, Half Moon at the official opening of the prestigious event at the MasterCard Centre in Beijing yesterday. The festival ends on Sunday next week.

 

In an interview yesterday, the deputy director of the college, who is also the leader of the DivineJewels Choir, Rachel Jera Chigwanda, said they were excited to be here and would do Zimbabwe proud.

She said they chose to sing a Chinese piece as they wanted to show that Zimbabweans are  versatile.

“We sing most of the Chinese songs very well because of the help of Chinese lecturers from the University of Zimbabwe who have  been helping us to pronounce the Chinese words properly.”

Half Moon is a love song and “we have been rehearsing and having shows with people like Charles Charamba and this has helped us to boost our confidence,” she said.

The weeklong event will see more than 166 groups from across the globe performing. It is held biannually. From the 166 groups 32 are from overseas.

CICF organises the event together with China’s Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture, China Arts and Entertainment Group and the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM).

Countries taking part include Zimbabwe, Japan, US, Spain, Macau, and SA.

The event is running concurrently with the IFCM World Choral Summit.

The organisers said this event was different from past events in which China paid more attention to competitions and awarding prizes instead of the diverse activities of CICF.

“Choral art is an international language in which people communicate with their hearts using vocals to express human emotions. It has a much longer history than that of using instruments.

“The level of choral music development represents the overall music level of the nation,” said the organisers in a statement.

They said in an attempt to sing for peace and friendship, CICF will continue to play an active role in increasing mutual understanding and friendship between peoples of China and other countries.