A busy year for the much-loved Ndlovu Youth Choir kicks off with concerts in Cape Town at Artscape, featuring six performances from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 February.
With Johannesburg performances to come later in the year, South African audiences are assured of continuing what has become a must-see, joy-filled musical tradition.
The choir’s national tours have been sold out every year since 2021, underlining the esteem in which they are held by audiences in their home country.
It’s not only here that they are loved, though; the choir currently has a social media following of 4,5 million and their total video views recently surpassed 750 million across all platforms.
African interpretation
During the Cape Town run, presented by Showtime Management in association with SmileFM, music lovers will be treated to a hit-laden set list in which one undisputable highlight will be the Ndlovu Youth Choir’s interpretation of Queen’s eternal tour de force “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
The song was added to their repertoire in 2024, featuring an arrangement that somehow gave even a song this popular a boost in popularity.
The story of how the choir was able to get the rights to record and perform the song is an unconventional one. Choir director Ralf Schmitt knew it would be difficult, particularly once the lyrics were translated into isiZulu and the arrangement was updated to include African rhythms and stylings.
So he took a chance, recording a fully-produced studio version of the track and creating a spectacular music video before sending the results to Queen’s publisher, Sony Music in London, which in turn forwarded them to the surviving band members and the Mercury Phoenix Foundation, representing the late Freddie Mercury.
The band loved it and gave their blessing to an Ndlovu Youth Choir release, an incredible encouragement for the Choir’s young singers.
Director’s vision
“We are incredibly proud to share our uniquely African, isiZulu rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,” said Schmitt.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time, it has been a true privilege to reimagine what it may have sounded like had Freddie Mercury’s musical journey never left our beautiful continent of Africa.
“We are deeply grateful to Queen for granting us permission to create the first-ever commercially-released translation of this iconic masterpiece. We hope we have done the song justice and that uBaba Freddie Mercury is smiling down on us.”
The 2026 set list combines some of the biggest names in international music from across eras and genres, including Elton John (“Circle of Life”), Aretha Franklin (“Respect”), Giacomo Puccini (“Nessun Dorma”, sung most famously by Luciano Pavarotti), Dolly Parton (“Jolene”) and Toto (“Africa”), among many others.
Powerful local flavour comes from two medleys – a new South African medley and an Amapiano medley featuring Ghoema music – as well as classics from Vicky Sampson (“African Dream”), Mango Groove (“Hellfire”); Solomon Linda (“Mbube”) and Mama Africa herself, Miriam Makeba (“The Click Song” and “Pata Pata”).
Sharing SA musical culture globally
“The Ndlovu Youth Choir continues to inspire, performing magnificent tours for homegrown audiences while also sharing South African musical culture with the world,” said Tony Feldman of Showtime Management. “We’re incredibly excited for the choir’s 2026 dates and the new audiences they’ll reach in Cape Town, Johannesburg and abroad.”
Schmitt elaborates: “We leave directly after the Artscape concerts on our American Tour. We also have another run at the Afas Theatre in the Netherlands and then a performance at the prestigious Amare Theatre in the Hague.”
The choir will perform in Johannesburg in July and August.
Show times and booking information
Shows at Artscape Theatre Centre:
- Thursday 5 February at 19:30
- Friday 6 February at 19:30
- Saturday 7 February at 15:00 and 19:30
- Sunday 8 February at 14:00 and 18:00
Book tickets at www.showtime.co.za or www.ticketmaster.co.za.
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