The Blue Mountains is the African Children’s Choir’s favourite part of Australia.
After Ugandan children’s popular tours here in recent years, it’s coming back — this time with Ubuntu, a troupe of talented high school graduates from Uganda and Kenya.
They will visit the Blue Mountains from Sunday, May 15, to Sunday, May 22. That’s longer than anywhere else in NSW. And their expanded tour has more shows than any other district in Australia. Already, audiences in Victoria have described Ubuntu as “world class”.
Springwood High School will join Crowd Around Community Choir in hosting Ubuntu. Teacher Kevin Joseph said this was an exciting opportunity for the school.
“Our school is committed to students developing leadership skills that benefit local, national and global communities,” Mr Joseph said. “Our involvement with the Ubuntu 2016 tour is an opportunity to do exactly that.
“Students are very excited at the opportunity to billet performers, participate in drum and dance workshops and support the work of this group of young people from east Africa.”
The school’s assembly hall — the venue for its hugely popular musicals — will be the stage for an inspiring concert. Ubuntu will also give concerts at Katoomba High School and Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High School.
And Lawson Public School will again have a workshop on African song, drum and dance, with lots of opportunities for the audience to join the fun.
Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle is “really looking forward to reconnecting” with the African Children’s Choir and meeting the young men and women of Ubuntu.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the performance a year ago in Blackheath and I’m thrilled they’re coming back,” she said.
“There is a strong resonance between Ubuntu and the Blue Mountains community. We understand the importance of connection to one another and the environment.”
That connection between all people is the meaning of Ubuntu, an indigenous word from South Africa that was often spoken by one of Africa’s greatest heroes, the late Nelson Mandela — one among many well-known people youngsters from the African Children’s Choir have entertained.
Since 1984, the African Children’s Choir has been bringing children on world concert tours. They’ve performed for the Queen, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and Ellen DeGeneres and sung with Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, George Michael and Bob Geldorf.
These tours bring the idea of Ubuntu to life. The children learn of possibilities beyond the daily struggle to survive, and audiences are inspired by the talent, energy, happiness and hope of performers who have grown up in extreme poverty.
The tours also raise money to educate the performers from primary school to university, helping them free themselves from poverty and become leaders in their communities.
The young men and women of Ubuntu have big dreams for themselves and for Africa. Sandra Nakalanda previously toured as a child in 2002 and 2007 and aims for a career in international relations to help create peace in war-torn nations.
“The choir changed my life tremendously because I was given a chance for education and sharing my smile and love with thousands of people through singing and dancing,” she said.
Ubuntu’s drum and dance workshop will be at Lawson Public School on Wednesday, May 18. Concerts will be at Katoomba High School on Thursday, May 19; Springwood High School on Friday, May 20; and Nepean CAPA High School on Saturday, May 21. All events start at 7.30pm.
Book tickets at www.kwaya.org. Inquiries: Brendan O’Reilly, phone 0437 347 657.
