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Choral Evensong from the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. September 17th 2003
| Directors of Music for the service |
Dr Geoffrey Webber.
Director of Music Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Brian Bophela
Director of Music. St Martins Church, Edendale, South Africa |
Organ Scholar.
Francesca Massey |
The Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, goes on a foreign tour every year, and this year they were invited by a former student of the College to visit South Africa. Their 17-day tour (which continues until September 23rd) is based around Johannesburg, but at the start of their visit, they spent three days in Pietermaritzburg, some 500 kilometres from Johannesburg on the way to Durban. | |
Pietermaritzburg is proud of its heritage and many of its characteristic Victorian and Edwardian buildings have been conserved, including a magnificent City Hall with what they claim is the largest pipe organ in the Southern Hemisphere. The Cathedral though is relatively recent. It was completed and dedicated in 1981 and marked the coming together of two city centre parishes. It's dedicated to the Holy Nativity and a beautiful tapestry of Nativity scenes (with animals from the African bush) greets the visitor at the entrance.
| | Both choirs in the sanctuary of the Cathedral are given directions by the Series Producer of Choral Evensong, Stephen Shipley | | |
For the broadcast service today, Caius Choir was joined in the Cathedral by a black choir from a lively parish in the suburbs of Pietermaritzburg, St Martin's Edendale, with their Rector, the Revd Thulani Ngcobo (who led the prayers). All the music in the service (apart from the Office Hymn) was composed by contemporary South African composers - Peter Klatzow, Christopher Lambrecht and Niel van der Watt - and the responses were written specially for the broadcast by the Director of Music at Gonville and Caius College, Dr Geoffrey Webber, and based on South African melodies.
|  | | The Choirs of St Martin's Edendale and Gonville and Caius Choir singing
the final African chorus (and dancing) together under the guidance of
St Martins' Director of Music, Brian Bophela. |
| | | St Martin's Choir sang two traditional African choruses and taught the Caius Choir to sing a third - 'Akekho ofana, noJesu' (There's no-one like Jesus) - at the end of the service. Another former student of Caius College, Bishop Michael Nuttall, gave the homily. Bishop Michael recently retired as Bishop of Natal and has just published his memoirs in which he describes his role as 'Number Two to Tutu' | | | |
| Gonville and Caius College Choir, directed by Dr Geoffrey Webber | singing at Mpophomeni, a township not far from Pietermaritzburg, where
a centre has been set up, seeking to respond to the huge numbers, including children, who are HIV positive or living with full blown AIDS. |
| | Gonville and Caius College Choir performing their newly learnt
African song 'Akekho ofana, noJesu' to the children of
Clarens Primary School which is celebrating its 90th anniversary | | |
Acknowledgment
Text. Stephen Shipley Series Producer, BBC Religion
Photographs. Phillip Scard. Gonville and Caius Choir
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UK Cathedral Music Links 2003 | | |
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