HARVEST Tabernacle Choir shrugged off fierce competition on Sunday night to emerge winners of a musical concert dubbed “Clash of hub choirs”, clinching a whopping $10 000 prize money.
JONAH NYONI Own Correspondent The concert, held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair and organised by Harvest House International Church, had 10 contesting choirs.
The choirs churned out colour, creativity and unparalleled talent that kept fans on the edges of their seats.
Harvest Aflame, and Masvingo Harvest Choir, walked away with $5 000 and $2 500 respectively for coming up second and third. The competition drew contestants from Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.
In an exclusive interview with Southern Eye, Lindelani Mkhize of Joyous Celebration who was one of the adjudicators, said: “I’m grateful to Harvest House International for inviting me over.
“It’s a calling for me to always look for potential, to always look for a new voices that can go out and praise the name of the Lord.”
Mkhize said they ended up judging using technical strategies because vocally all groups were on tie.
“We really had a difficult time in deciding who the winner was. We ended up using a technical strategy paying attention to stage presentations and confidence,” he said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Mkhize also indicated that as Joyous Celebration, they were hunting for talent from Zimbabwe.
Asked what he was looking for in the contestants he said: “I am a simple man as much as others may say I get to be too technical and too musical.
“I am looking for something that will move me and something that will move the person next to me.”
Mkhize said they were currently working flat out as Joyous Celebration for the next output which will be Joyous 19 titled: Back to the Cross.
Why back to the cross? Mkhize said: “We feel that we are losing the basics in our lives as Christians. In our government we are missing the Christian values.
“So we are trying to bring every basic little thing as to how we used to be receptive of the Word.”
Zimbabwean gospel musical kingpin Charles Charamba said as a judge he was looking for “novelty, newness, creativity, innovativeness, assertiveness and confidence”.
“As a judge, it was difficult to tell who was better than whom. I have been invited to so many choir battles, however, this one has been rated the best so far in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole,” Charamba said.
He said the gospel industry does not need a replica of the Charambas, but more musicians. “We want more diversity, we want stars in Bulawayo, we want stars in Matabeleland,” he said.
The third judge was Pride Priestly, who also took to the stage and sang with Takesure Ncube in an interlude. Caroline Zinyemba a music teacher at Hillside Teachers’ College added the much-needed professional flair to the team of judges.
One of the organisers of the concert, Phillip Phiri, said they sold about 4 000 tickets for the concert.
