Themba Music
Ever since Themba started, music has been at the centre of its development. Year after year new choirs formed at the Themba schools, despite the fact that there was seldomly and formal musical training. New students brought with them the songs they had learnt at home, creating a wealth of cultural tradition. Especially students from Zulu and Swazi backgrounds enriched the cultural scene at Themba through traditional dancing, poetry, singing and drama.
Early beginnings of Themba music productions
In 2004, Nico den Oudsten and Reinhild Niebuhr, who had just started getting involved at Themba, identified music as a key opportunity for fundraising for Themba. The first professional recording of a Themba choir took place during the 150 year Anniversary of the "Candace" ship carrying the first Lutheran missionaries from Germany, some of which would later settle in the greater area of South Africa where Themba is now located. This CD was never produced in larger quantities, but with lovely original songs by Mrs Fikile Bhengu, choir director of the Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (LCSA) and main choir conductor on the project, it remains a valuable document for the Themba music library. In mid-2006 the first "Themba Gospel Music" CD was produced and distributed among the Themba network of friends and donors, mainly in Germany, without being used commercially.
The Erin Bode Group
and the Themba Girls CD Project
In the same year, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) appointed a new director of its World Relief and Human Care
division, Pastor Matt Harrison. Pastor Harrison visited Themba in April 2006 and was struck by the lovely voices of a group of girl students at the Siyathemba Secondary School. Through his initiative, a talented young jazz singer from the United States of America, Erin Bode, and her band came to Themba in November 2006 and recorded a CD, which became a major fundraising success in the USA. In 2007 Erin Bode and her group came to Themba again under the auspices of LCMS-WRHC to make a second recording, this time of a boys choir. This CD is due for release soon!
"Soccer unites Nations" - African Gospel Songs
Encouraged by the phenomenal success of the Themba Girls CD as a fundraising effort, and in celebration of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup Championships, in 2010 Themba produced its own new CD, featuring 13 original songs written by friends, former and current students, volunteers and employees of the Themba Trust. Released in South Africa during the World Cup period, proceeds from this CD will be used towards the Themba Scholarship Fund, aimed at enabling children from poverty-stricken, rural homes to attend the Themba Boarding Schools in future.
For more information about this CD, kindly click here to read the press release.
The Themba Trust aims to continue producing CDs featuring original, traditional African and other Christian music as part of its outreach ministry and for fundraising purposes. Please support these efforts by getting your own copies of these Themba CDs.
Click here to find out how! | 