Maitisong Theatre will on the 23rd March be the venue for a pre-Easter concert meant to launch a new choir and raise funds for the Mochudi Resource Center for the Blind.
The festival will feature the Gaborone Philharmonic Voices – the hosts who will be launched, local poet and singers Benson Phuthego, Mbali Bloom Kgosidintsi, a South African internationally renowned poet, traditional dance troupe, Mophato (though they had still not confirmed by Friday morning) and other traditional groups.
The hosts’ Artistic Director, Tebogo Dire, told Sunday Standard in an interview Friday that his choir was formed in 2011 and sings classic and other forms of folk music.
During the forthcoming festival, they will be collaborating with a powerful mass choir from South Africa – the Molopo Excellent Chorus. This will not be for the first time that they will be performing together as they did the past year in South Africa during the national choir festival in that country.
“This is going to be a great concert as our choir will be having a lot to share. We are going to be dishing classic Handel mass music, which will be spiced by traditional performances by local groups. We also have the blessings of the presence of our poets, Benson Phuthego and Tshepho Kgosiemang. For the first time also, an internationally renowned poet, writer, actress and concept designer will be stepping on Botswana soils to perform,” said Dire.
He said some of the proceedings from the festival will be donated to the Mochudi Resource Centre for the blind – something they have done before after staging concerts.
They have also invited officials from the Office of the President, who are expected to give a key note address during the event.
The choir has also performed in a number of concerts in Gaborone, supporting other choirs. It performed in collaboration with Molopo Excellent chorus and now aims at performing in the same concert alone this year. The choir’s intention is to participate in the President’s competition this year.
An amount of P200 gets one into the VIP seats while P150 is admission for other seats in a festival expected to start at 2000hrs.
