Sunday, July 02, 2006
The Black Tie Ensemble on Carte Blanche
South Africa's only Opera company, the Black Tie Ensemble, just featured on MNet's Carte Blanche - which is really great for a company that is keeping this artform alive in this country. Focusing on one of their stars, Loveline Madumo, shows how much natural talent we have here. Having only heard opera for the first time in Matric, she has now gone on to be one of the ensemble's foremost vocalists.
What I find really cool is that we have been in contact with the group's management all week; reworking their promotional material and even adding a Special Feature on their show, which includes President Thabo Mbeki's famous 1996 speech "I am an African". They first performed this show in October 2005 for Pres. Mbeki, and have since performed it a number of times for dignitaries such as the U.N.'s Kofi Anan.
The last number of year have been tough for Classical groups like this one, and yet when you go into the townships around SA you will find so many vocalists belting-out the most beautiful tracks with no training - except what they hear.
One of our philosophies is, you can't know where you are going, if you don't know where you have come from, and this is just as true with Classical music, as it is with Traditional, Jazz and Cultural music. It is creating the opportunity for these artists, that is the only way to guarantee we remember the beauty of the past.
So it's great to see our artists getting some good exposure - and we're proud to be doing our bit to push it along - they will be performing for us this coming Tuesday at CEEF. Africa's 10 year celebration. Amongst the dignitaries expected to speak is Finance Minister Trevor Manual.
Labels: Black Tie Ensemble, opera
