Nelson Mandela University Choir celebrates 30 years of freedom songs

9 Jul 2024

Combining Western music and African melodies gave this choir its unique flavour, which has been maturing over its illustrious three decades.

The Nelson Mandela University Choir, which is one of the country’s first university choirs to blend Western classics and traditional African melodies, celebrates its 30th anniversary this month.

Started in 1994 as the University of Port Elizabeth Choir under its founder conductor, Junita van Dijk, it is now eyeing the future under the baton of choir director Robert Gillmer.

A former member himself, Gillmer knows he has taken over a choir with a rich and diverse heritage. But there is much more than music in the air, he says, as relationships have been forged, death has been grieved, and romance has blossomed.

“There is something that happens when people sing together,” says Gillmer, who has a performance master’s degree in voice from the university. “All of a sudden you don’t see differences or languages. There is just one unit voicing together.

“It’s a unified organism. There is a trust between us. When the conductor lifts their hands, we breathe together, we move together, we see together. There’s something special that happens, and it’s life changing.”

Over the choir’s first 25 years, Van Dijk built it into a world-renowned ensemble.

“The choir laid the foundation for what we are striving to have today in this country. It was a microcosm of society,” she says.

“It was ground-breaking and such a learning curve for all of us – we introduced the world to African music.”

Over the years the choir has played at numerous high-profile events and choir festivals internationally.

“We had fantastic opportunities – I can’t tell you how many invitations – and my students were so privileged that they paid the minimum to travel and meet other cultures,” Van Dijk says. “For many of them the flight to Johannesburg was the first time they had been on a plane.”

They jetted off to Spain, Austria, Argentina, Italy, China, the US and the UK. In South Africa the choir sang for legendary names such as Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth and Desmond Tutu.

Earlier this year the choir shared its stage in Gqeberha with singers from South Korea.

The Korean Cultural Centre in Africa said the concert was a remarkable opportunity, “showcasing the beauty of harmony and friendship through music”.

Unite and uplift

Gillmer is the third choir director, having taken over from Dr Ulagh Williams, who stepped in when Van Dijk retired in 2019.

“After Junita’s legacy, Ulagh added a jazz influence,” says Gillmer, noting how each conductor leaves their own imprint.

Williams took over just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

“Because of Covid it was a very different choir that I needed to run, and most of the members were new, so I had to build something from scratch,” Williams remembers. “It was very difficult and there were a lot of challenges, but we just had to come up with new ways of making it work.”

The choir played a major role in the university’s communication strategy during the pandemic, releasing inspirational songs to unite and uplift.

Performing fully online in 2020 was a growth curve at the time, Williams says, “and I’m proud to have been part of taking the choir into a digital space”.

“The most amazing thing for me was seeing how resilient the students were and how willing they were to learn.”

Taking part in the university’s flagship Isisusa Jazz Festival in 2022 was another highlight. Until then the choir had mostly performed a cappella. “That was the first time the choir performed with a live band and soloists from outside, bringing jazz, choral and popular South African music together on one stage,” she says.

A music teacher and former SA Idols competitor, Gillmer took over early in 2023.

He brings his own strengths in contemporary and pop music to the choir, but acknowledges the rich legacy that had been created before him.

“I take my hat off to Junita. The position of conductor is very underrated in the sense that it is not just standing in front of 63 people,” he says.

Gillmer has found that many members are fresh out of school and they are still finding their way. “For a lot of them, it’s the first time that they actually are performing in front of audiences,” he says.

Sometimes, Gillmer has found, it is as much about nurturing and mentoring as it is about conducting.

Every year student members graduate and leave and that, he says, is a “huge challenge”.

He therefore is hoping to sign up more alumni to provide continuity in the body of the choir.

“The choir is not just about singing. It is a whole lot more, including communication and networking. It truly brings people together.” DM

About Nelson Mandela University

The university is in the coastal city of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, with a campus in George.

The largest university in the province, its existence is a result of a merger of the University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth Technikon and the Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University. It was initially named Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2004, in line with the restructuring of the higher education sector. But in 2017, it was renamed Nelson Mandela University, the only higher education institution in the world to carry the name of South Africa’s former president.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Voices of activism – Mzansi Gay Choir raises the roof with the sound of ‘a revolution’

It offers degrees, diplomas and certificate courses to its more than 30,000 students. About 500 study programmes are anchored in seven faculties: business and economic sciences, education, engineering, the built environment and technology, health sciences, humanities, and law and science.

Nelson Mandela University has an ocean sciences campus, a one-of-a-kind in the country. Its range of marine and maritime education and training, research, innovation and engagement programmes is aimed at supporting the continent’s ocean economy.

The medical school has a comprehensive primary healthcare approach, which focuses on the four pillars of medicine: disease prevention, health promotion, treatment and rehabilitative medicine.

While attending the university you can, of course, audition for and potentially join the famous choir. DM

Find more information here.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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