UKARIA: Nobuntu with Academy Voices

Review by MARTIN CHENEY

Cultural Connect: A Choral Residency

Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 June, 2025

In his opening remarks at the Saturday evening performance, A Cappella Academy Director and ex-King’s Singer Timothy Wayne-Wright described this weekend’s program as a dialogue between two nations. Its design was more than one that would simply feature repertoire from disparate cultural heritages, but rather one that would foster an integration and collaboration between the two in a unique and meaningful way. 

The concert began with a song by the Zimbabwean a cappella quartet, Nobuntu, singing almost exclusively in a remarkable, earthy alto unison accompanied by a simple small hand drum and tambourine. From this moment, the audience at UKARIA was uniformly transfixed by their unpretentious but deeply felt musical language. 

Throughout Nobuntu’s opening set, I went the longest time without jotting down a single note. It became almost immediately apparent that most of the choral metrics I would normally lean on in a critical sense — intonation, structure, communication — were largely obsolete. Their intonation was remarkable, but not in the way I would describe a Western ensemble singing with the same level of unity. The communication between the four women was as intuitive and symbiotic a musical relationship as I’ve ever witnessed, the togetherness seeming to come from an innate heart-and-soul level, rather than relying on visual or aural cues. Witnessing their synergy was a joy, and so too was my realisation that I could scarcely summon the words to describe it. 

Nobuntu were then joined by Academy Voices, directed by Jonathan Bligh (an amalgamation of singers from Adelaide Chamber Singers, Aurora Vocal Ensemble and Festival Statesmen) for a stirring rendition of ‘Lean on Me’, an arrangement which once more reinforced the power and effectiveness of choral unison. 

These concerts also featured two brand-new South Australian commissions written to celebrate these joined forces. The first was ‘Glenelg Sunset’, composed by Anne Cawrse with text by Peter Goldsworthy, a stunning piece that pushed the combined ensemble to its limits. Its unique brief also saw Cawrse painting with bold, fresh new colours amidst her signature shimmering and harmonically unpredictable writing, resulting in an entrancing premiere. This was later followed by Carl Crossin’s ‘Himeji Garden at Dusk’, based on poetry by Ann Nadge, a new work replete with meditative simplicity that keenly channelled the evocative text. Crossin’s integration of Nobuntu into the tapestry of the choral palette was a striking pairing with the Cawrse, displaying a distinct but complementary approach that was entirely in keeping with the spirit of this residency.

A true highlight was the breathtaking rendition of Stephen Leek’s ‘Kondalilla’, an Australian choral staple that was not only performed wonderfully well in its own right, but that also featured interjections from Nobuntu. It was a stunning fusion of two cultures, both musical as well as literal with the allusions to landscapes contained within the piece. This performance was arguably the most vividly demonstrative example of what set this concert apart from others of its kind.

Without wanting to seem trite, the prevalence of unison (deliberate or otherwise) in this performance was a powerful reminder of the weekend’s intention: that despite the many and nuanced differences in the choral approach and context of these cultures, the medium of music itself is a unifying force. Interestingly, the last A Cappella Academy performance I reviewed in 2023 (featuring the Gesualdo Six) concluded with a setting of Maya Angelou’s text: “we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Timothy Wayne-Wright is clearly a man on mission.

Nobuntu are Zanele Manhenga, Thandeka Moyo, Duduzile Sibanda & Joyline Sibanda. 

MARTIN CHENEY