by Nazeem Davids
We have reached September again, Heritage Month. Today I want to briefly focus on one of our intangible heritages, a proud tradition that is seriously threatened.
The recent withdrawal of Jonge Manhattans Sing Koor from the impending Cape Malay Choir Board (CMCB) competitions has highlighted the crisis this unique and well-loved event finds itself in.
For the first time, 10 choirs will contest the annual choral competition, this from an organisation that consisted of almost 50 choirs in the 1970s. Six choirs who participated in the past annual general meeting (AGM) will not be participating.
The oldest Cape Malay choir, Young Men Sporting Club, and perennial top three finishers, Strelitzia Youth Development, is among them. One of the other long-standing choirs, Young Ideas, threw in the towel not too long ago.
Memberships are shrinking everywhere. Choirs who fielded well over 70 members now happily go into competition with 40 or even 30 men. What happened to the rest?
One could argue there are a number of reasons for this decline, i.e. the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the resultant unemployment, financial and economic factors and serious social issues like crime, gangsterism and substance abuse. It is easy for youngsters to be drawn into these evils.
Our youngsters will rather spend hours browsing social media platforms, watching TikTok and YouTube videos.
Attracting new youngsters to this almost century-old tradition has never been more difficult and challenging, and when you do manage to bring in younger members they inevitably need to be financially supported if they were to participate.
Yes, there is funding from local and provincial government, but nowhere near enough to support at least 20 fully fledged choirs.
There is no funding for a concerted youth development strategy. Our minister of Arts and Culture wanted to create a R22million flag!
Why can that money not be used to develop school choirs? Our successful choirs work hard at their fund-raising, but you can only tax your loyal, paying supporters to a certain extent.
The same support is attending functions by all the other choirs, which is difficult to sustain.
Choirs from the poorer communities face the biggest challenges with their supporters virtually living from hand to mouth.
What is needed is for the big corporate companies like our cellular networks, insurance giants and retail chains who benefit from these communities daily, to step up and reinvest in our culture and heritage.
We also need the leadership of our cultural organisations to come up with new, innovative ideas to capture and interest the youth in our culture and traditions.
The social media platforms to do this are already at their disposal and every high school child has a mobile phone.
Create content targeting those kids, showcase and sell our traditions. Our schools are crying out for sport and cultural programmes. We need to partner with our schools to reignite interest among the kids for these traditions.
We need to change the perspective it is only for the older generations and introduce an element of fun to it.
The teachers cannot do it, they are already overburdened, but any corporate sponsor will be interested in new grass-roots initiatives and you can harness the skills and knowledge of retired singers and musicians.
Our Malay choirs are not the only tradition facing this crisis. The same applies to our minstrels and Christmas choirs. We are facing a crisis that will have a profound effect on our communities in the future.
Participation in cultural activities is a force that unites communities; it is a wonderful way of preserving or strengthening a community’s sense of place and identity and also an excellent platform to show and foster creativity.
As a people, we cannot allow these traditions to die out. We have no control over many things, but preserving our heritage is not one of them.
* Nazeem Davids.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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