International Music Making

September has been an amazing month for Music at King’s Hawford with two fabulous international music experiences for our lucky children.

In the middle of September, we were treated to Wind Band and Choir performances by St. Hilda’s College, Argentina, who visited us on their tour of England. Their engaging performances included a lively selection of music, with five wind band pieces culminating in the ‘Hawaii Five-0’ theme tune. After a couple of solo choir performances, they involved all the children in singing a 3-part Latin American song called ‘The Elements’. Then, as a wonderful bonus, their older students performed an Argentine Tango for the whole school, followed by a student-led mass dance lesson for our numerous willing volunteers. Before enjoying a delicious traditional English lunch of bangers and mash (the sausages and gravy being a big hit with the Argentinians), our Senior Choir performed an exciting Spanish piece ‘Cantar!’ to thank St. Hilda’s for visiting and inspiring us all.

Last Friday, our Senior Choir were centre stage singing to a huge audience in the cathedral. This was for an incredible foundation-wide concert with the visiting Drakensberg Boys’ Choir from South Africa who were on their British tour. This phenomenal choir were touring five Cathedral schools in England and Wales performing a mesmerising mix of traditional African songs, with classical, pop and opera numbers in their repertoire. Accompanied on the piano and African drums by their own pupils, the Drakensberg choir opened the concert with six songs in various styles, with each of the King’s Foundation schools then performing three solo songs.

The concert drew to a close with the massed voices of all four choirs singing two traditional African songs, ‘Shosholoza’ and the ‘Masithi Amen’. The ‘Drakies’ demonstrated their impressive vocal technique and skill in every song and their joyous, uplifting singing was truly inspirational for all. Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’ brought everyone to their feet and ‘I Just Gotta Sing’ roused the whole audience to lift their voices and join in. For those of you lucky enough to attend and wishing to re-live the uplifting singing, or for those of you who missed out on this occasion, a recording of this special concert can be found on SoundCloud – here.  Listen out for King’s Hawford Senior Choir performing ‘A Thousand Years‘, ‘Uma Familia‘, and ‘Cantar!‘.

We are extremely grateful for the musical opportunities afforded to our children and for the teamwork across the Foundation to put on such a prestigious and inspirational event. It was wonderful to hear the other schools perform and it will be a concert to remember for many years to come.