Drakensberg Boys Choir School is a choir school located near

Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal Winterton is a small town on the banks of the Tugela River in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1905 as Springfield when the Colony of Natal, Natal Government built a weir across the Little ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, at the foot of the Central Drakensberg mountain range. Performing in a variety of genres such as

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

African music The continent of Africa is vast and its music is diverse, with different regions and nations having many distinct musical traditions. African music includes the genres like makwaya, highlife, mbube, township music, jùjú, fuji, jaiva ...

, the choir is based in South Africa but also tours internationally.

Organisation

The school was established in 1967 by John Tungay with assistance from his family. Typically, enrollment is about 120 boys, all aged 9 to 15. The school admitted its first black student in 1988, six years before the end of Apartheid. It has an extensive campus, including a 600-seat auditorium constructed in 1995, and holds weekly concerts for the local population. The Choir has toured internationally.

Concert tours

The choir has presented concerts in the United States and across Europe and, by Papal request, at the

Vatican City Vatican City, officially the Vatican City State (; ), is a Landlocked country, landlocked sovereign state and city-state; it is enclaved within Rome, the capital city of Italy and Bishop of Rome, seat of the Catholic Church. It became inde ...

. They have also performed with South Korean artist

Lee Moon-se Lee Moon-sae (; ; born January 17, 1959) is a South Korean ballad singer who is often considered a Korean pop icon. Since his debut in 1978, he has released 16 full-length albums, including 1987's ''When Love Passes By'', which sold 2.85 million ...

. Every year, boys from the choir embark on an international tour. Recent locations for tours have included the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. While on tour, they often collaborate with other local youth choirs.

Notable alumni

The Bala Brothers The Bala Brothers are a vocal trio from the Kwa Nobuhle Township outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The group consists of brothers Zwai Bala, Loyiso Bala, and Phelo Bala. The brothers first gained prominence when Zwai Bala joined the ...

, the South African vocal trio, attended Drakensberg Boys Choir School in the 1980s and 90s. In 1988, six years before the end of

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, the oldest brother, Zwai, was the first black student admitted to the school.

Jean-Philip Grobler Jean-Philip Grobler (born 1983), known for his musical project St. Lucia, is a South African singer and musician based in Konstanz, Germany. He is signed to Nettwerk Records and to date has released five albums: '' When the Night'' (2013), ''Mat ...

, an

indie electronic Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

artist, sang in the Drakensberg Boys' Choir before moving to

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

to make music as

St. Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

. Ralph Schmidt went on to become the director of the

Mzansi Youth Choir South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. Its nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean; to the north by the n ...

, which appeared in

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and ...

Notes

References

''Concert Review - Drakensberg Boys Choir - U.S. 3/2007''
reviews by Lynn Schoch and Gene Hickman, ChoirBase * J. B. Lan (Jiří Bulan)

2008 May 6, in Czech about the first Czech member of the school, in English about the school

Discover Our Drakensberg – Your Guide to the Drakensberg Mountains and Natal Midlands.

External links

* {{Authority control Boys' schools in South Africa Boarding schools in South Africa Nondenominational Christian schools in South Africa Choir schools Educational institutions established in 1967 1967 establishments in South Africa Private schools in KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg