Mohalenyane Phakela
SERUMULA Performing Arts Academy choir conductor, Lehlomela Tente, makes choral music look so easy with his flawless style of directing performances including those of his own compositions.
He has composed several songs, the latest being Thapelo tsa Rona which helped SPAA win an award at the recent South African Melting Pot Choral Festival.
He is also a music coach, adjudicator and facilitator at the Lesotho Schools Music Association in addition to his involvement in the structures of different church denominations.
Tente grew up in a choral family in the Cana village in Leribe district and that nurtured his love for the musical genre.
“My father, who greatly inspired me, was a choral music conductor during his teaching years and my mother was a member of the Church Choir at Cana LEC where my father was also a conductor. So all of us in the family had the exposure to choral music from early age but I took it further,” Tente said.
“I have been part of other choirs like the Cana LEC Youth before moving to Maseru where I joined Maseru Vocal Waves from 1999 to 2000.
“I then became a member and conductor of Machabeng College School Choir before joining the Maseru LEC where I conducted the youth choir.
I also conducted the University of Natal Choral group during my time as a student there,” he said.
Although, he never had formal music education, Tente has developed into one of the country’s finest composers of choral music.
“My first composition dates back to the time I was only 13 years old but I cannot remember what that score was although I am sure it was a horrible composition,” he said.
While it may have been horrible, it certainly laid the foundation for his development into the current conductor of the SPAA choir that has won many local and South African choral competitions.
The list of honours includes the African Melody Festival and South African Melting Pot Choir Festival, Gauteng Choral Music Awards as well as the South African National Choir Festival and Mangaung Choral Music Association competitions.
And despite all these achievements, Tente is hungry for more.
“SPAA was formed in 2007 out of the need to develop so many talents that were going to waste. The idea was and remains that of ensuring that we achieve good results even without meaningful sponsorship.
“So with the milestones we have achieved, we hope to attract goodwill in order to offer our youth a living. We are still a long way from there, but we shall get there.”
He said from the onset, SPAA set themselves a 20 year plan of developing into one of the best choirs in the world, one which would convince everyone of the need to invest in choral music.
“We are not yet 10 years old but we believe we are on the right track. We worked hard as a team to be here. It has never been a one-man show, although leadership demands that someone should drive the team, inspire it, motivate it and offer vision.
“The second decade of our plan is to offer formal music lessons where the youth can obtain formal training. We hope that someone out there will support our endeavours as we slowly change the lives of Serumula members and the face of the choral music industry,” Tente said.
He said theirs had been a journey filled with challenges because choral music was considered “a waste of time, by our relatives and potential sponsors”.
“It is considered an outdated type of music which is also a waste of money. So I only write music that can be performed on a limited budget, not extensive scores because we do not have a venue or an orchestra to play it,” he said.