Notes on Music
Time Signature:
Sheet Music: 4/4
Tempo:
Sheet Music: quarter note = 72 beats a minute, joyful
Key Signature:
Sheet Music: 1 flat
Basic Structure:
Sheet Music
Part 1
Measures 1-3: djembé only
Measures 4-35: choir and djembé
Part 2
Measures 36-39: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 40-45: solo, choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 46-48: choir, djembé, and hand claps
Measures 49-51: choir, djembé, hand claps, with one part in Zulu
Measures 52-59: choir with Zulu part, hand claps, no djembé
Measure 60: choir only
Singing Style:
Solo:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: few words, and many syllables on several tones
Sheet Music: "should be free & improvised throughout" [1]
Group:
2005 Drums and 2006 Synthesizer: voices were generally "whispery."
Sheet Music: began with sopranos and tenors singing in unison, and altos and basses singing in octaves. When altos joined the higher voices they sang a phrase with four parts, then change to three-part chords. Other verses are sung in four-parts. The very last word was five-part harmony.
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics:
2006 Synthesizer: the synthesizer began. One musician passed a shaker back and forth over one of the African drums. During the singing, the instrumentation was unobtrusive.
Rhythm:
Sheet Music: Runestad said, "the djembe player should improvise freely, reacting to the vocal soloist and the choir’s musical material." [2] He provided three patterns, with the second labeled "Slightly Easier," and the third "Or easier yet." [3] They all used three tones with "slaps" at the end of phrases.
To be more precise, he told musicians:
"Many djembe players keep the sixteenth note rhythms evenly present--i.e. they play something on every sixteenth note of the beat. Then they use accents and various parts of the drum to bring out certain accented beats more than others.
"Most percussionists also add additional rhythmic material, called "fill," at times when the other musical parts are holding notes or playing rhythms that are more static. So, when the choir is holding a longer note, the djembe player can branch out even further from the above motives. Experiment!" [4]
Notes on Performance
2006 Synthesizer: the choir was dressed in theatrically colorful native dress. They filed onto risers while the synthesizer was playing. The women stood in front with their arms low and their hands clasped. The men stood behind them with their arms at their sides. The modern musicians were on the third tier. The two African drummers sat in front to stage left.
Notes on Movement
2006 Synthesizer: in the first part, the choir stood still and faced the audience. However, a couple of the women moved their hands, spreading the out and bringing them together.
During the hand claps, both men and women alternated between facing stage right and left. While they changed positions their arms came down; on the claps they were raised chest-hand. The hands were brought together in a praying position. It looked like they bent their knees while they were turning, but the camera never showed them full-length in this section.
The soloist stood in front, with a microphone in his right hand. He moved with knees bent as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. He would raise and drop his left arm.
At the end, the women clasped hands with intertwined fingers and raised their arms to their shoulders.
Viewers’ Perceptions
A great many comments were posted on YouTube, especially for the drum version, in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Some had African names, and one made a reference to Germany. While many described the videos as heavenly or made comments on God, there were none of the Pentecostal references to anointing or blessing. Most were simply appreciations for the sound.
Notes on Performers
The choir was founded in 2002 by Beverly Bryer on behalf of some Australian promoters, Andrew Kay, Clifford Hocking, and David Vigo. [5] She worked with David Mulovhedzi, who then was director of the Holy Jerusalem Evangelical Church Choir. [6] Bok was part of the choir from its beginning as a tenor and guitar player. [7]
He was born in Kimberly [8] and raised in the Zulu part of Natal where he attended secondary school in Pietermaritzburg. [9] In 1999, he became music director of the Berea Christian Tabernacle. [10] That was three years after the Boer and African congregations of the Apostolic Faith Mission Church were reunited after the legal end of apartheid. [11] He stayed with the wealthy Pentecostal church for two years.
He earned accreditation from the School of the Prophets in North Miami Beach, Florida. [12] In 2016 he had his own choir, Africa in Praise, and was music director for Conquering Through Prayer Ministries in Durban. [13]
Bok’s father played guitar, and taught him to play when he was seven. He told Margaret von Klemperer that he could read a score, but "following music by ear comes naturally." [14] Runestad said, "the choir is based solely on an aural learning tradition. [15]
Availability
2005 Drums
CD: Blessed. Shanachie, CD. 2005.
YouTube: uploaded by matbb891, 13 April 2008.
2006 Synthesizer
DVD: Blessed Live in Concert. Australia, 2005; released 2006.
YouTube: uploaded by erastusbean, 12 March 2009.
Rehearsal
YouTube: uploaded by Wesley Rocha, 22 November 2015
Sheet Music
Lincoln, Nebraska: MusicSpoke website, 2015.
End Notes
1. Kurt Runestad. "Performing Notes on ‘Khumaya’." MusicSpoke website.
2. Runestad, Notes.
3. Runestad, Notes.
4. Runestad, Notes.
5. "Beverly Bryer." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
6. "Jimmy Mulovhedzi." Soweto Gospel Choir website.
7. Margaret von Klemperer. "From Eastwood to Hollywood." News24 [Capetown, South Africa], 24 March 2008.
8. Klemperer.
9. "Lucas Bok." Facebook.
10. Klemperer.
11. Wikipedia. "Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa." It was founded by Reform Boers with the assistance of Pentecostals from the United States.
12. Bok, Facebook. The School of Prophets was run by Steve Lyston, and preached the restoration of the primitive church. ("About RWOMI Network." Its website).
13. Runestad, Notes. The church was directed by Clive Malcolm Gopaul. He was raised in South Africa’s Chatsworth Indian Township, and educated at the Premillennial Bethesda Bible College in Mitchell Park, Australia. ("Conquering Through Prayer Ministries International." Facebook.)
14. Klemperer.
15. Runestad, Notes.
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