Just because you are born from poverty, it doesn't mean you’re poverty.

Ndlovu Youth Choir was founded by Ralf Schmitt as one of the Ndlovu Care Group community development programmes. The choir consists of young people from Limpopo South Africa, in a village called Moutse.

The purpose of the choir from the beginning was to assist youth who don't have a voice or any representation of where they're from. Through this phenomenal choir concept the youth of Moutse village are now not only a voice of the poor from their village but a golden voice for South African disadvantaged communities as a whole. The choir commenced in 2009, and since then the youth in it have been developed in different aspects of their lives through music and behavioural change for the better.

One of the pioneers in the group Sandile Majola can proudly attest about the change he experienced in his life after joining the choir, from having no goals to becoming a young growing leader that has a brighter future. For other young people they have find the choir as a great escape from their everyday challenges.

Other than music – how do you try to empower the choir members to become good influence to other young people in their communities? "Everyone contributes to the running of the choir – we have choristers who manage the wardrobe, we have a writing team, we have drivers and a choreographer - who have all skilled themselves in different areas required to keep the show on the road”.

Please share your highlights since you started. “We have been fortunate in that there have already been so many - Performing with Pink, The Match in Africa, Obviously AGT and the opportunities that have sprung from there, performing for Netflix video, as well as a collaboration with Sir David Attenborough for the launch of BBC Seven Worlds One Planet series".

The choir recently created a video message for the elderly from the All I Want For Christmas song by Mariah Carey. The video is shot in Limpopo from one of the ex-members grannies yard, it was created as concerns for the elders and the vulnerables in the society.

During the pandemic and lockdown – how did you kept the spirit of choir on high? “We created a green screen studio in our village which we have used to make community messages about Corona – we have also performed virtual shows to people all over the world from this studio – and so have been able to reach arguably a lot of people we may not have connected with.”

Lastly, the choir has released their second and new album named RISE which dropped on the 11th of December 2020, and it's available on all streaming platforms and in all music stores.

You can stream the album here: https://SonyMusicAfrica.lnk.to/NYCRISE

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