There was a tangible energy in the Grahamstown City Hall during the Creative City 'Masicule-Let’s Sing!' concert – with a large audience who participated enthusiastically.
There was a tangible energy in the Grahamstown City Hall during the Creative City 'Masicule-Let’s Sing!' concert – with a large audience who participated enthusiastically.
But Masicule is much more than powerful choral sounds and bringing people together: what's as important is its impact on Grahamstown’s art scene as a whole.
Creative City is a Grahamstown initiative that aims to generate a year-round passion for the arts.
The Creative City project's stated goal is to establish Grahamstown as South Africa’s Creative Capital, and as home to a variety of high-profile arts and creative projects and practitioners.
“The Festival is all very well – but it only happens for 10 days out of the year," Masicule Director Gareth Walwyn, told Grocott's Mail after Sunday's event.
"Masicule is one of Creative City’s initiatives to keep a high level of arts activity going throughout the year.”
Although the National Arts Festival injects a large dose of international-level talent and entertainment into the city, there is no incentive for prolonged creative activity in Grahamstown.
For this reason, the Festival, under the auspices of the Creative City project, organises cultural events such as the recent open-air cinema and ‘Foto Fence’ outdoor gallery and competition.
Producer and Choral Director Priscilla Glover said, “It is also to uplift artists in Grahamstown: to give them the idea that you can make a living out of being an artist in some way.
[Events like these] encourage the idea that art is an accessible form of expression.”
Masicule – Let’s Sing! involves 12 choirs and almost 500 Grahamstown voices belonging to school pupils, as well as adult choir-members.
Performances span from a workshopped version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song sung by Graeme College, to Victoria Girls' High and Ntsika Secondary School’s rousing rendition of Bawo Tixho Somandla, a traditional Xhosa freedom song.
Although the majority of singers were high school pupils, they displayed an immense maturity and experience in the way they conducted themselves on stage, from their evident concentration to the powerful vocal techniques they displayed.
During the mass choral items that concluded the concert, the floor trembled with the explosive energy of their voices and dancing.
At this point, although the City Hall was filled to the brim, audience members jumped on to their feet, dancing and stomping along to the music.
The sense of togetherness and exhilaration shared between the singers and the audience represented exactly what the organisers of the event were striving for: a professional approach to the arts that does not exclude anyone, no matter what their educational or cultural background.
Masicule-Let’s Sing is on again for the last time this year, tonight at 7:30pm in the City Hall. Tickets are R40 and can be bought at the door.
