Flamingo Choir grabs gold in South Africa

After various ‘Samaritans’ came to the rescue of the Flamingo Primary School choir with financial aid to perform in South Africa, the Walvis Bay-based school choir, flew the country’s flag high.

The choir won gold in the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur- vereniging (ATKV) Choir competition whichtook place on July 27 in Stellenbosch and came in second place overall in the category, ‘Nie- Afrikaans moedertaal sprekend’. The choir also received the award for the best performanceof a traditional African song. They performed ‘Emakhayeni’, a Zulu/Tsonga song.Anastacia de Klerk, the choir co-ordinatorsaid the pupils enjoyed themselves. “For most of them it was the first time to go to South Africa. They were amazed by the country’s beauty. They were very nervous on the night of the competition and we had to calm them down. Nevertheless they performed like pro- fessionals and amazed us.” The choir is nowplanning to take part in the Erongo Regional Arts Festival which is due to take place in the beginning of September. The choir consists of 29 girls from different backgrounds from grades four to seven. Their ages range from 10 to 14. The school received about N$40 000 from of sponsors.