About CENESTRA MALE CHOIR

THEN & NOW

 CENESTRA Male Choir (CMC) was established in 1992,  following a motivation to Themba Madlopha, *the late Themba Lengoasa, *the late Pritchard Zitha and Walter Kope, by members of the CWMBACH Male Choir, whom they met at the 35th Cork International Festival, Ireland, in 1988.  It was here that the *late Peter Williams, in particular, was most influential in this regard. This took place during the closing ceremony of the Cork Festival at the Metropole Hotel, amid spells of free-flowing Guinness! Relations with the Welsh choir are still strong to this day. Cwmbach last visited SA in 1997, the year Cenestra won their first international Gold Award.   

CENESTRA is an acronym for Central East Rand, an area within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality covering the four townships of Tsakane, Wattville, Daveyton and Kwa-Thema where the entire membership resides.  The recruitment drive was met with such overwhelming response that, during the formative years, the membership stood at a staggering 85, and was gradually whittled down to a manageable 50 over the years. The main objective of the choir was to participate in musical activities both nationally and internationally, whilst striving for musical excellence and the promotion of unity among the diverse cultural groups within the borders of South Africa and beyond.

Since its formative years, Cenestra has enjoyed unqualified support from the Chairman of B3, Mr Matthews Mogafe, notably the sponsoring of the 1992 Choir Launch Programme (then Unity Afsure), the “Boyz 2 Men” Concert with the world renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir in 2003, and partly, the participation of Cenestra in the 10th International Competition in Budapest, Hungary  in 2005. CMC has forged relations both locally and internationally with, among others, the Welsh Male Choir of SA and the Cape Town Male Voice Choir (CTMVC), and, internationally with CWMBACH (Wales), Inkululeko (Norway), and Tallin TAM Choir (Estonia), all of whom have been hosted in the true Mzansi tradition eKasi. During these times, CMC is proud to have nurtured and  overseen the growth and development of local youthful talent, such household names as Mike Dingaan (now producer at Classic fm), and the enterprising singer at Afro Tenors, Lucky Sibande – both from Kwa-Thema.

In July 2012 the CMC took part in the “Wales Choir of the World” choral music spectacular held in London’s Royal Festival Hall. Here the CMC and the CTMVC, together formed the African representation amid +- 800 male voices drawn from 5 Olympic member continents, in celebrating the Olympic spirit. The two choirs had the opportunity to jointly fly the SA flag high among nations of the world, and also filled the atmosphere in the Royal Festival Hall with such electrifying African ambience, to a long, resounding applause not to be forgotten. Most memorable here was an email comment made by one great conductor of the world, Paul Bateman, some few days after London.

“Dear Themba,

It was so good to meet you in London! The African choir's contribution was for me the highlight of the 1st half - such a big, rich sound and all sung with passion and commitment.

Seeing your direction reminded me of something that is so important but rare - the feeling of space and movement between the beats! This allows the music to breathe and dance as well as sing and you have it naturally in your body - bravo!

I do hope we can do it again someday. Please send my heartfelt thanks and best wishes to your choir.

Warmest wishes

Paul”

After this milestone event, CMC embarked on an extended UK visit to neighbouring Wales, as part of a 20th Anniversary Celebrations, mainly to share this special achievement with Cwmbach after 15 years. This was a highly emotional visit to the “Land of Song” which saw both choirs (Cenestra and Cwmbach) engage in the rekindling of old friendship fires established in the Ireland (1988) and South Africa (1997) encounters.

In December 2013 CMC was invited by the CTMVC to their annual end-of-the-year concert, mainly to showcase to the home audiences what the two choirs jointly presented in the 2012 Pre – Olympic music spectacular in London. The highly emotional concert (dedicated to our hero, Mandela) titled: “Summer Celebration Concert: Mayibuye iAfrika”, took place on the 8th December 2013, at the Chapel of the prestigious Bishops School in Rondebosch. During this time of intense mourning in SA, Cenestra also took time to make public performances in front of the Cape Town City Hall and at the V&A Waterfront, in paying tribute to our fallen icon, Nelson Mandela. Yet another historic joint performance took place at the Kirstenbosch Gardens on the 12th December 2013. This amazing collaboration with the Cape Town Male Voice Choir, inspired by Grant McAllan’s prolific South Africa piece, is due in Gauteng later in the year.

CMC participates in various concerts around the country, and is often invited to perform at high profile events such as Mayoral functions, Presidential inaugurations, Church and corporate functions. Performance highlights include a historic tour of Oslo, Norway in 1996, guest appearances at the Bravo Three Tenors Concert at the Union Buildings in 1999 and at the Ihlombe SA Choral Festival in 2009-2010, as well as featuring in the Royal Festival Hall Concert in London.  It was such a great honor to share the stage with the sensational singer of world-acclaim, Welshman, Bryn Terfel, in the singing of “Ise Weary”, as well as other popular Welsh tunes.

CMC holds two Gold Awards, received at The International Eisteddfod of SA in 1997, and at the 10th International Competition in Budapest, Hungary, in 2005.  In the period 2005-2011 CMC was ranked 14th – 16th in the Musica Mundi Top 50 Male Choir World Ranking List.  CMC has worked in close collaboration with some great SA music legends, among them Welcome Msomi, Johnny Mekoa, Prince Lengoasa, Jonas Gwangwa, Sibongile Khumalo, and Caiphus Semenya.

Once more, in October 2014, Cenestra was invited to the UK to be part of a prestigious festival of male choirs of the world at the Royal Albert Hall, in Kensington, London. It was such an exhilarating tour of the UK (Wales and London). Suffice to just say, it was awesome! The SA flag was flown very high amongst nations of the world!

After the tour, the Musical Director of the choir, Themba Madlopha, had this to say, 

“As Musical Director of this great choral outfit, I cannot help but believe that, Wales (Land of Song) and London were served with dignity and bowled over. The boys were just real ambassadors of South Africa in all respects. They were in such devastating form on stage.”

Below, are some of the rave reviews the choir received from UK audiences:

Cwmbach Male Choir

Message on our web page guestbook

J MILES: CWMBACH AND CENESTRA CHOIRS

I was lucky enough to attend both the concerts in the Colisseum and St Andrew's Church this week and each time I was simply enchanted by the wonderful performances. As hosts, Cwmbach lived up to the excellent standard that we are all used to, but the visitors blew me away completely. It was evident why they are ranked as one of the top choirs in the world. Their performance was soul stirring and incredibly uplifting. Many performers receive a standing ovation at the end of their concerts but until this week I had never seen a standing ovation part way through a set. The choir overwhelmed the audience on both occasions, reducing some people to tears.
The choristers were wonderful ambassadors for the world of music but also their courtesy and goodwill toward their hosts and the people that they met before and after the concerts made them wonderful ambassadors for their country.
Many people are looking forward to the time when we can welcome them back to Wales and I count myself as one of them.

Jayne Thomas

October 12 ·

You really do not want to miss hearing this black South African Choir. They performed to a sell out theatre in Aberdare last night and had several standing ovations. Every time they sang I was on the verge of tears it was so beautiful and uplifting.
Their repertoire is a mixture of pieces from the traditional male voice repertoire-including songs in Welsh- and African traditional songs.

There are... just 26 of them, but the power is amazing. Individually their voices are those of soloists, together they sound as one. The phrasing and expression is wonderful and their dynamic range outstanding. They are funny and moving. True performers.

The combined items with the fantastic Cwmbach Male Choir were out of this world. Two brilliant choirs singing together! Just Wow!

It has taken 18 months in the planning to get here . They only heard on Wed that it would be ok for them to leave South Africa on Thursday. Please take the time to come and hear them. You will not be disappointed.

In July 2016 a group of 14 members of the Cenestra Male Choir were specially invited toparticipate at a prestigious event to launch Princess Charlene of Monaco as Patron of the South African Red Cross Society in Monaco. The event was held at the Palace gardens. Again in March 2017, 8 members of the Cenestra Male Choir were invited to grace the Gala Launch of the Princess of Monaco Foundation Waterbike Project at the Monaco Yacht Club. 
In July 2017, the Cenestra Male Choir was on a Collaboration Tour of Uruguay and Argentina with the Cape Town Male Voice Choir. It was such a great honour to meet and interact with the legendary Latin American composer, arranger and Musical Director, Oscar Escalada.
2018, July 4-14 We took part in the World Choir Games that were hosted by City of Tshwane, South Africa. We managed to come back with "Silver" in the Male category.