Lerato Matheka
MASERU — Twenty-eight choirs will today battle it out in the Ninth Annual African Melody Festival at Manthabiseng Convention Centre.
The number of choirs competing in the festival has dropped from the original 36 after eight choirs failed to meet the required number of choristers.
The Choral Music Federation of Lesotho (CMFL) public relations officer, Sam Letima, told XpressPeople that six choirs pulled out after they failed to raise the number of required choristers.
“NUL Choir, St Paul Serenades, Lithabaneng LEC, St Patricks Youth, Holly Spirit Altar Servers and NUL LEC didn’t meet the requirements of competing at the festival,” Letima said.
“They individually disqualified themselves because they realised they couldn’t meet the set standards.”
Another prominent choir, Mohapeloa Singers, is also not taking part in this year’s competition because they are busy with their own projects.
Letima said choirs competing in the bronze category were supposed to have between 25 and 35 members while those competing in the silver category must have between 36 and 49 members. For choirs to compete in the gold category they need to have between 50 and 80 members.
“The requirements are no secret so the choirs knew that if they didn’t meet the standards, they wouldn’t be able to take part in this year’s festival,” Letima said.
He added: “The 28 choirs that have met the set requirements are gearing up to battle for the first position in all categories.”
Thirteen choirs will compete in the bronze category, seven in the silver category while eight will battle for first place in the gold section.
Maria ‘Mabasotho, JP Choristers, St Gerard Serenades, Loreto LCYM, Maseru Vocal Waves, Mafeteng Choristers, Serumula Performing Arts Academy and Masery City Choral are vying for the prestigious gold trophy.
Last year’s silver category winners, Lithabaneng LEC, who registered to compete in the gold section, told XpressPeople they were taking a breather this year.
“We wanted to challenge in the gold category but we had to disqualify ourselves because we didn’t have enough members to compete,” Lithabaneng LEC conductor, Moeketsi Phalatsi, said.
“Most of our members have moved to different places within the country, some went to school while others married.
“Our membership dropped from 40 to 18 until a month ago when we managed to recruit new members. We now have 26 members but this is not enough to compete in the top gold category,” Phalatsi said.
He added: “We are taking a breather this year and will observe performances by our opponents in preparation for next year.”
Phalatsi said depending on their strategies for next year, they were looking to recruiting enough members to compete at the same level.
Letima said the decrease in the number of contenders this year is a challenge to the local choral industry.
“This is a challenge for the federation, CMFL. We are going to come up with strategies that will help choirs recruit and retain members, not only for big competitions like this one but for the strength of the choirs,” he said.
Letima said unlike in the past when the festival was powered by the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture “this year we have Standard Lesotho Bank and other companies supporting us”.
He said the ministry withdrew its sponsorship this
year citing financial constraints.