South African Choral Music (Amakwaya): Song, Contest and the ...

13.4 Summary 375
Works by Mendelssohn and Brahms, and, above all, Handel's Messiah, had long been significant
presences. The performance of oratorios may be understood originally as an endeavour simply to
emulate Britishness, whereas the translations of the texts undertaken much later represent a more
thoroughgoing process of appropriation, involving the adaptation of Western culture to African.
needs. In other words, the popularity of oratorios and in particular those of Handel, reveals an important
aspect of the middle class's struggle for recognition and identity.
In recent years, the trend of concentrating mainly on choruses taken from oratorios, to the exclusion
of other Western choral music, has gradually developed towards an enthusiasm for opera.
Whereas by the mid-1990s only a few of the leading choirs had started to present choruses and
solos from operas as their 'own-choice' competition piece, organisers of choral competitions and
festivals have since picked up on this trend. Without doubt, there is a strong and growing interest in
opera in black communities, but the consequent narrowing of the repertoire to one part of the
vocal tradition seems to me educationally questionable. The repertoire of amakwqya groups, I argue,
still draws too heavily on the oratorios of Handel and Mendelssohn and others. Should choirs not
be encouraged to enrich their choral experience by exploring new repertoire rather than to limit it in
another way? It remains to be seen if the trend towards opera will continue in the years to come or
if alternatives will be investigated which will encourage further exploration of the great choral tradition
from the Renaissance to the present day.