Ndlovu Youth Choir music review: Crowd-pleasing and inspiring
Enthusiasm and skill propel this passionate youth choir
Back in 2009, Ndlovu Youth Choir formed as part of an after-school club in Limpopo, South Africa. Ndlovu Care Group runs programmes for orphans and vulnerable children experiencing poverty and disadvantage. Ralf Schmitt is the co-founder of, and now passionate hype-man for the choir. He feels strongly about kids growing up feeling they have options and believes that music classes shouldn’t be exclusively for those from affluent families. Schmitt is visibly buzzing, as is the choir of around 20 singers, when he recaps on their story so far, from village beginnings to their first time at the Edinburgh Fringe, via shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall and an appearance on America’s Got Talent.
The songs are joyful, crowd-pleasing musical theatre and afro-pop numbers, from ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ to Toto’s ‘Africa’, ‘Higher Love’, and a Zulu-language cover of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. This last one was a labour of love, inspired by Freddie Mercury’s Tanzanian roots and given the seal of approval by Queen. It combines isicathamiya (a Zulu a capella style) with kwassa kwassa (a type of music and dance from the Democratic Republic Of Congo. This is a commodified update of traditional African music, for sure, but the choir’s palpable enthusiasm is infectious with high kicks and splits aplenty.
Ndlovu Youth Choir, Assembly Hall, until 30 August, 11am.