african – Jules P Richards

Half of the choir {Global Harmony} had a delightful evening overlooking Rutland Water on Friday night.

We sang a dozen songs in a splendid garden in Manton, at then culmination of a safari supper.

Here’s just a snippet: 3 Songs from Africa – (it’s a poor recording on a mobile-phone but better than nowt)

Senzenina (starts 1min 22secs in) is a favourite of mine – (with me on the call and the choir doing an elevating job of swelling the melody ) – I love this song.

It featured in the mediocre film ‘The Power of One’, as part of an excellent sound track. The film is an adaption of IMHO a great 1989 novel of the same name by Bryce Courtenay . This book is on my personal top ten of influential novels.

Interestingly the lyrics of this version of Senzenina translate to: What have we done? Our sin is… What have we done?

My sentiments exactly.

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and another…

You can’t beat a good old SING!

Global Harmony is a mixed a cappella world music choir based in Melton Mowbray. I’ve been part of GH since 2008. Last week we had a great Christmas Concert at St Mary’s Church in Melton!

Above is a recording of ‘the blokes and Vera’ singing the traditional Croatian song ‘U poju se mala’.
(Photo from last year)

Rough Translation:
In the field, a little, Orange tree is swaying. It’s not because of the wind, a little, Nor for the bright sun.
But a maiden, a little, In a great sorrow, For her mother, a little, Is giving her to a widower.

Below is a video of the choir singing ‘Kakilambe’, an African ritual dance tune. This name is also used to refer to different percussion patterns in African music.

It really is a great experience to be part of Global Harmony over the last few years. It truly is a privilege and a joy to experience and be able to sing with such a vibrant bunch! It is perhaps only as a collective that the human spirit really excels.

If you live near Melton and fancy a challenge on Monday evenings, come along! www.globalharmony.org.uk