Gauteng North and Limpopo choirs announced as winners of the 7th Absa Internal Choir festival

Choral group, Capital City Choristers from Gauteng North province emerged victorious after being named as the winner in the finals of the seventh Absa Internal Choir festival at a glamorous night at the Teatro in Montecasino.

This was a big moment for Capital City Choristers Choir, following on the footsteps of Gauteng East Choir who had scooped this award for the past two years.

The choral group wowed not only the audience but also the judges bringing good cheer with an uncanny imitation of former president, Mr Madiba and with their stirring rendition of a song about South Africa’s national rugby team – the Springboks.

Mapatata A Limpopo Choir returned home to the province of Limpopo as the first runners up. The choir was also named the most popular choir for the evening voted for by the audience via sms.

Following the completion of the provincial semi-finals earlier this year, the 10 choral finalists performed two songs each at the finals: their own choice, composed by JB Arthur, as well as a song that was prescribed by the judging panel which included Absa’s Happy Ntshingila and Gavin Opperman joined by Lynette Crouch and Alta van As from Wits; Keneilwe Tlholoe from Summit TV; Germaine Gamiet from BASA and music producer Victor Masondo. KPMG are the official auditors of the competition.

“The songs are not only evaluated according to intonation, phrasing, pronunciation, balance, dynamics, and interpretation but also the levels of enjoyment, enthusiasm, professionalism and appreciation by the audience. The choristers from Gauteng North certainly delivered a polished and inspired performance and certainly deserved their victory,” said Ms Maria Ramos, Group Chief Executive of Absa, adding that this was the biggest production in the festival’s seven-year history, playing a crowd of 1650 guests.

The winning choir in the category of “best dressed” was also awarded to Capital City Choristers Choir from Gauteng North. The choral group impressed once again adorned in dazzling red and black. This new category recognises the work of unemployed groups of people who were hired to design and make the colourful costumes that were needed by the choristers for the finals.

“We recognise the commitment, sacrifice and hard work of all the choir members who practice relentlessly, outside of normal working hours. I would like to congratulate all our choral groups, especially the top two finishers,” said Ms Ramos.

Besides the impressive choral performances, the competition also featured Hip Hop recording artist and current South African Idols presenter, Proverb, as the host for the evening.

The bank’s choral competition was originally launched as a team-building initiative for Absa’s employees. This year, the intense competition featured over 5 000 Absa employees who made up 28 choirs spanning all nine provinces.