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South African Choir Adapts to COVID-19 by Making New Music

Associated Press

   MOUTSE VALLEY, SOUTH AFRICA - The dusty streets of rural South Africa
   are a far cry from the bright lights of "America's Got Talent," but
   that's where the members of the Ndlovu Youth Choir find themselves
   coping with the coronavirus pandemic.
   With an electrifying mix of vocals and dance moves, the group made the
   finals of the U.S. television show last year. Sold-out performances
   across the U.S. and Europe followed, as well as a recording contract.
   But COVID-19 halted their international tour and landed them back where
   they began, Moutse Valley in South Africa's Limpopo province, one of
   the country's poorest regions.
   "We were supposed to go to Germany for a performance, but it got
   canceled. We are used to touring the world, doing shows everywhere, and
   during this corona time it's been very difficult and frustrating," said
   Sandile Majola, 26, a member of the chorus and its manager.
   The virus has created new risks for singing together, but this
   "cultural catastrophe," as one British arts group called COVID-19, is
   not stopping the young singers.
   Ndlovu is the Zulu word for elephant, and like the pachyderm the choir
   members are showing determination to move forward.
   The group was formed in 2008 to help orphans and children of HIV
   patients, said Hugo Tempelman, a Dutch doctor who 30 years ago started
   a medical clinic that has become a wide-ranging community development
   project, the Ndlovu Care Group.
   The project had more than 600 child-headed households in the orphan and
   vulnerable children program, he said.
   "We tried to assist those kids with food programs and tried to give
   them a more resilient way of surviving, through life skills," Tempelman
   said.
   He saw a bigger need for the children's development.
   "When I saw the kids go home, I still didn't see a smile. And I thought
   that if we want to provide hope, we must give them something that they
   can be proud of," he said.
   He came up with the idea of a youth choir.
   "Of course, you start a choir, because Africa sings," he said. "Africa
   sings everywhere. They sing at a funeral, they sing at a birth. They
   sing their moods."
   In 2016 the choir became more professional with the help of donors. Two
   years later their rendition of the Ed Sheeran song "Shape of You" won
   them an audition on "America's Got Talent" and their captivating
   performances skyrocketed them to fame.

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