When first-year MB,ChB student Terrence Mngomezulu heard a few people singing gospel songs for fun, the seed to start a gospel choir on the Tygerberg campus was planted.
Mngomezulu, who was part of the youth choir and the Catholic choir in his hometown of Pietermaritzburg, put a post on Facebook inviting friends to join a yet-to-exist choir, the only requirements being a musical talent and a passion to sing praise to God. "It was really hard to start something that never existed before, but I had this sense of urgency pushing me," he recalls.
That was in March 2014. Now, more than two years later, the choir has grown from 15 people to its current 45 enthusiastic members.
"We were a little worried that the choir wouldn't work because of the low initial turnout, but we weren't disheartened," says Busi Maphanga, a fourth-year MB,ChB student that has been a member of the choir since its inception and is now chairperson of the group.
"At first we just looked for easy songs on YouTube and practiced to see if it worked out. It wasn't easy because we didn't have a professional to teach us," she recalls. "We would just listen to a song, work out the harmonies and start singing." But the effort paid off and soon they started sounding like a choir.
The word spread and more people started to join. Before long they had 35 members and enough people in all the voice groups. "We were ready to start performing."
Their first performance was at a Tygerberg Student Council (TSR) event which was held in the Tygerberg Student Centre (TSS). "We were all nervous and not sure how the campus would receive us. We performed two songs and the crowd cheered! That was the beginning of this amazing journey," Maphanga reminisces.
The choir still doesn't have a professional conductor and is currently led by Sharon Mathole (MB,Chb II) and Mmathapelo Malope (MB,ChB IV). "Both the conductors have musical backgrounds and have been involved in their respective serenade (sêr) groups," Maphanga explains.
According to Mngomezulu, despite the lack of professional instruction, the choir has served as a platform where many members have honed their skills before being accepted in the Stellenbosch University Choir.
Once a semester they have a choir camp to learn new songs and to get to know each other better. "The Tygerberg Gospel Choir is not only a choir, but is has become family," says Maphanga.
The choir mainly sings gospel and traditional songs in different languages.
Last year the choir performed at the Stellenbosch Woordfees and annually they also perform at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' Gala Concert. They also organise a "Clash of the Choirs" event where they invite different choirs to perform to help raise funds. They have been requested to perform at various events — from fundraisers to culture evenings and birthday parties. One of the choir's aims is to get involved in bigger projects and perform nationally.
Mngomezulu says sometimes he still can't believe that what was once only an idea is now a community of people with a common goal: "We are a multiracial group that challenge ourselves to break down walls and spread God's love through music."
- Membership is open to all Stellenbosch University students and staff that have musical talent, commitment, a good understanding of how to read music and a passion to worship God. The choir is non-denominational.
- Practice is every Thursday from 17:00 to 19:00, unless there is an end-of-block week when practice moves to a Monday.
- If you're interested in joining or for information about upcoming events, you can email Busi Maphanga at 16482638@sun.ac.za or visit their Facebook page.
