38 Nairobi choirs faceoff for Easter bragging rights...and Sh2 million
ACK Good Shepherd Choir - Langata. The choir is one of the semifinalists for the Easter Festival Battle of the Choirs event organised by the Nairobi County Government this Easter Sunday at the KICC. The finals will be on Easter Monday. FILE PHOTO | POOL
Some of the best Christian Church choirs from Nairobi will sing their hearts out this weekend in the Easter Festival Battle of the Choirs, a competition that will crown the city’s best choral ensemble.
The project, a brainchild of Governor Johnson Sakaja, will be the culmination of a month-long knockout process that involved the participation of choral groups right from the sub-county level.
“The governor wants the energy of the music that is found within the church to be shared with the wider community during this Easter,” explains Mwaniki Mageria who is the Chairman of the Easter Festival Battle of Choirs Task Force.
Choirs that have qualified right from the sub-county level will have the opportunity to perform before a national audience and showcase the diversity of Nairobi choral music at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Easter Sunday and Monday.
Mageria who has been involved in music and film management and promotion for more than two decades says the festival is lucky to have some of the country’s top choral music experts in the technical team, including music trainer, conductor and director, Daniel Madalanga, Peter Koigi, Director St Benedict Choir of St Peter Clavers and veteran choral conductor and composer Nicholas Omondi.
The festival received more than 90 entries from different choirs that submitted short presentation videos. The technical team vetted the entries for quality and professionalism and whittled the number down to 38 choirs for the semifinals.
The selection criteria included stage presence, choir tone quality, blend, unity, delivery and overall performance.
Last week, the technical team met the directors of the semifinalists for capacity building to advise on their expectations regarding preparation, repertoire, and performance and to clarify any outstanding matters before the actual competition.
“We are delighted to have very good representation from across the county and so the festival will be a showcase of Nairobi’s choral diversity,” says Mageria.
The semifinalists include ACK Good Shepherd Langata, St Paul’s Choir South C, St Mark’s Westlands, Dandora Friends Choir, Jogoo Road Church of God Choir, PCEA Utawala Choir, St Paul’s Choir Kasarani, and St Patrick’s Multimedia University Choir.
“These are choirs that sing in their respective churches every Sunday and so members of their congregation are welcome to attend the festival and offer their support by cheering them,” says Nicholas Omondi of the technical team.
The 38 choirs will present their pieces before a panel of adjudicators on Easter Sunday and then the 15 finalists will battle it out on Monday for a top prize of Sh2 million, which has personally been donated by Mr Sakaja.
The choirs will be judged on stage presence, delivery, artistry and relevance of message and other aspects of choral performance. The repertoire for each choir will be an Easter piece, an original composition and an African sacred folk song.
“We are preparing as if we will be in the final,” says Samuel Wabwire Okomba, Choir Director of the ACK Good Shepherd Langata. “We have been practising every day from 6:30pm to 8:30 pm, along with our preparations for the Easter church services.”
His choir consists of 35 members which are within the competition rules of 25 -45 members for each choir.
“We are comfortable because the rules limiting the size of participating choirs puts us all on the same level and our only hope was that we could be given a little more time for each piece,” says Okomba, referring to the time limit of 3 minutes for each of the two pieces in the semifinals and three pieces in the finals.
“Choral music has a huge following, from the singers in the little groups you see rehearsing during the evenings at Jeevanjee Gardens or at the Aga Khan Walk to the big choirs, and of course the audiences cutting across generations and social backgrounds,” says Omondi.
“I am so glad to be involved in this project because it allows me to express my passion for choral music beyond my involvement with the Catholic Liturgical Music Association of Kenya,” says Omondi who conducts the Holy Family Basilica Choir.
“So far the process has been very well received and so we are just looking forward to the choirs giving their very best on Sunday and Monday,” says Suzanne Gachukia, the Deputy Chair of the Easter Festival Battle of the Choirs Task Force.
The veteran singer and producer says an event of this magnitude contributes to Nairobi reclaiming its place as a cultural hub. “We had a successful Nairobi Festival in December and now the Battle of Choirs and other events to follow that will see Nairobi take its place as the cultural centre of East Africa.”
