04 Jul 2016

Gaborone Philharmonic Voices dominated this year’s President’s Day celebrations in choral competition finals at the Sir Seretse Khama Barracks on Saturday. 

The choral competition which attracted masses, was part of the series of activities of the President’s Day celebrations which started last week with poetry. 

Eight choirs from various regions of the country battled it out at the finals where there was rigorous competition given each choir’s thrilling performance on stage. 

Singers had to compete in a standard song dubbed Ogorogile Ngwaga and in this category the Gaborone Philharmonic Voices had set the pace from the onset with a spirited performance. 

The choir emerged victorious in standard song, followed by Maun choral, then Palapye Voices while Tsabong’s Camel Choir came last. 

As if that was not enough, the youthful Gaborone based choir, once again did wonders on stage in the Lerabi song and they got first position, this time followed by Camel Choir, then Maun Choral and Palapye Voices got position four. 

There was also the large category, where veteran choirs in KTM Choir, Andante Chorus, Serowe Symphony and Gaborone Youth Singers had to contest in Lerabi and a Western piece. 

Renowned Andante Chorus of Ramotswa won in the Western piece, while Gaborone Youth Singers got position two, then KTM while Serowe Symphony was on last spot. 

As for Lerabi, Gaborone Youth Singers scooped first position, followed by Andante Chorus, while in third position was KTM Choir and lastly Serowe Symphony. 

The overall winner in the large category was Andante Chorus while in the standard category was the deserving Gaborone Philharmonic Voices. 

Meanwhile, at the end of the competition, adjudicators noted some of the weaknesses that they realised while singers were on stage, such as wrong choice of tempo, which resulted in some of the note barely heard but just the sound. 

Conductors were also advised not to be aggressive in front of the choirs, something which judges said the more the aggressive conductors were, the more the sound got rough. 

Blending of voices, according to the judges was also a challenge among the competing choirs, where at some instances individual voices were standing out. ENDS