Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Zulu and English, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Zulu, and Thai.

Welcome, enthusiastic viewers, to today’s edition of Enlightening Entertainment. Today, in the first of a two-part program, we will feature the vibrant young performers of the Kearsney College Choir from South Africa.

Of the thousands of choirs around the world, the Kearsney College Choir has established itself by placing in the top 25 in the prestigious Musica Mundi World Rankings of 2010. Their dedicated conductor, Mr. Bernard Krüger, inspires this group of grade 8 to 12 students to appreciate and excel in music and explore their own creativity.

With numerous gold and silver medals from many international choir competitions, they are loved for energizing their audience. Their exciting repertoire that blends South African folk songs, pop choral, and uplifting spiritual music.

We have not seen him We have not seen Mandela
In the place where he is In the place where he is kept
We have not seen him We have not seen Mandela
In the place where he is In the place where he is kept
Hey you! Hey you! Hey you and you as well
When will we arrive at our destination

Hey you! Hey you! Hey you and you as well
When will we arrive at our destination
We have not seen him We have not seen Mandela
In the place where he is In the place where he is kept

Bring back Nelson Mandela
Bring him back home to Soweto
I want to see him walking down the streets of South Africa tomorrow
Bring back Nelson Mandela
Bring him back home to Soweto
I want to see him walking down the streets of South Africa tomorrow

We have just enjoyed the Kearsney College Choir’s performance of two songs paying homage to Mr. Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president and leader in unifying the nation. The choir proudly celebrates their African cultural and spiritual heritage – and they have fun doing it. Mr. Bernard Krüger is the choir’s conductor.

It’s not boys standing on a stage singing. It’s vibrant. The boys move. They dance. They sing. They make music. They play the instruments themselves. They play all the drums. They play the xylophones, the little flutes and the saxophones, the guitars. The only adults on stage are myself and our pianist, the accompanist. And the rest is all the boys. And I think that is something unique to our choir.

Hi, my name is Stefan Grobler, and I have been at Kearsney College Choir for three years now. I’m a soloist in the choir.

My teacher, who is actually now the conductor of our choir, suggested coming here, because he said that this choir will allow me to grow as a musician. So it’s actually helped me a lot with my own musical training. And we’ve actually come very far.

This choir I think is so unbelievable in many ways. It’s unique in the way it approaches music and the way it performs music. But for me I think the real thing was just the energy that the people and the performers showed on stage when I watched it for the first time. It was so incredible I just knew I had to be a part of it.

There’s nobody like Jesus There’s nobody like him
There’s nobody like Jesus There’s nobody like him
There’s nobody like Jesus There’s nobody like him
There’s nobody like Jesus There’s nobody like him

Perhaps the highlight of any Kearsney College Choir live performance is their awesome imitation of an African rainstorm.

I think it’s the signature of our choir, and that’s probably one of the things that made us internationally recognized, was the performance of a rainstorm, where the boys simulate all the sounds of the water drops and the lightning bolts and the thunder. And for the boys, it’s very exciting to make these sounds, and at the same time for the audience, because they don’t expect these things to happen with body movements only. So definitely the nature plays a really big part in what we do.

Yeah, the beats and the slaps, they come through because as Africans we are very energetic, and we can’t just stand still while we are singing. You have to involve your whole body and your whole mind and your spirit, your soul, everything. And we try and create an authentic feel of nature when we are doing this performance.

I will now show you how we do the African rainstorm. We begin this by just rubbing our hands, which symbolizes a drizzling of rain as it comes down softly. And then the animals obviously are around as the rain isn’t too hard. So you hear the birds. And you hear the bigger animals also in the background, such as the buffalo.

And as the rain starts to come down harder, the animals go away. And the rain gets harder, and it gets harder and harder on the ground. And as it gets harder the thunder comes. And as the rain goes away and the thunder goes away it returns again. And then it goes back into a drizzle. And the animals return.

Let’s listen to the group’s remarkable performance of an African rainstorm.

The choir’s repertoire is diverse. But it is also based on the school’s strong set of religious values, as the choir’s dedicated conductor Mr. Bernard Krüger explains.

Our school is a Methodist school. That means our code of conduct includes that the Methodist Christian value system is followed at our school. We have a chapel on the campus, and each week the boys have a chapel service, and every day there is a daily devotion. The music that the choir performs plays a strong part in that value system. And it’s something that we would like to show the world.

Before we go on stage we all try and calm down and just connect with God and ourselves, and just focus on the performance. So we just ask Him to be with us during the performance and to help us.

When we go into a situation with His guidance we feel more secure and we just, we hold it very dear to our hearts.

My God is a rock in a weary land, weary land, in a weary land
My God is a rock in a weary land, He’s a shelter in a time of storm, oh yes
O I know He’s a rock in a weary land, weary land, in a weary land
O I know He’s a rock in a weary land, weary land, in a weary land
Shelter in the time of storm, oh yes
Stop and let me tell you about a chapter one When the Lord God’s work was just begun
Stop and let me tell you about a chapter two When the Lord God had written his Bible true (Holy Bible)
Stop and let me tell you about a chapter three When the Lord God died on Calvary
My God is a rock in a weary land, weary land, in a weary land
My God is a rock in a weary land, He’s a shelter in the time of storm

It doesn’t matter now It’s over anyhow
He tells the world that it was sleeping
But as the night came round
I heard its lonely sound It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping
It wasn’t roaring, it was weeping
Say ah Say ah Say ah Say ah

I think whatever category we are performing in, the real task of the choir is to incorporate the audience into the actual performance and make them feel a part of it, which I think gets us quite good results in many occasions.

You sing, Shosholoza. Alright. Here we go.
Shosholoza To those mountains The train is from South Africa

“Shosholoza” is one of the most favorite traditional Southern African folk songs. The expression “Shosholoza” means “Go forward” or “Make way for the next man.”

“Shosholoza” is about working, we are working together. It’s the train of South Africa basically. And that song is now become our unofficial anthem.

Forging ahead To those mountains
The train is from South Africa
Forging ahead To those mountains
The train is from South Africa

Now first dance!) You run away

Right, to the left!) To those mountains The train is from South Africa Forging ahead

(Ready, sing!) Forging ahead To those mountains The train is from South Africa

Thank you! Very well done!

Africans believe that the lion, or “simba” in Zulu, is master of the five big animals, or “king of Africa.” A king’s role is to protect righteousness and uphold truth throughout the land by the grace of God. This proud spirit of Africa can be heard in the song “Busa Le Lizwe” (Rule This Land).

Rule this land, Rule this land Rule this land of ours Rule with peace
Rule this land, Rule this land Rule this land of ours Rule with peace

Hail to you, Father We are grateful to you You brought us happiness And peace
Hail to you, Father We are grateful to you You brought us happiness And peace

Rule this land, Rule this land Rule this land of ours Rule with peace
Rule this land, Rule this land Rule this land of ours Rule with peace

Father, we salute you Lead us Rule this land With love
Father, we salute you Lead us Rule this land With love
Rule with love, Rule with love Rule with love, Rule with love
O Father With love Rule with love, Rule with love Rule with peace

O Father, O Father

O Father, O Father

Rule this land

Rule this land Oh me Oh me
Rule this land, Rule this land Rule this land of ours
Rule with peace Rule this land, Rule this land
You must rule with peace You must rule with peace
You must rule with peace You must rule with peace
O Father, O Father O Father, O Father O Father

Thank you happy viewers for tuning in to part 1 of our two-part series on the Kearsney College Boys Choir of South Africa. Please join us again next Friday, November 5, as our program continues with more fantastic performances. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom, right after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May your days be full of sunshine and vitality.