Penn Glee Club merges with Penn Sirens to become gender inclusive ensemble after 159 years thedp.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedp.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SA composer makes history with writing Xhosa folklore songs for Harvard Glee Club
By Mthuthuzeli Ntseku
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Cape Town - A 47-year-old Khayelitsha-based composer has made history by being the first black South African to be commissioned by Harvard University to write folklore songs in IsiXhosa for its male Glee Club.
Bongani Magatyana from Site C said he was approached by the institution last year after he was introduced to the director of choral activities at the university, Andrew Clark, and later performed his composition Khaya Lami.
Magatyana said he owed his experience to the Siyaya Ensemble at JL Zwane Centre in Gugulethu, where he wrote songs about HIV/Aids in multiple genres in 2006.
Penn Glee Club becomes fully gender inclusive after 159 years of all-male singers upenn.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from upenn.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club and the Penn Sirens have decided to merge their choral groups, meaning that for the first time since its founding 159 years ago the Glee Club will include singers of all genders and will perform repertoire for soprano and alto voices, in addition to tenor and bass, and for all four voice parts.
In the final step in a yearslong process to make the Glee Club fully gender-inclusive, currently active members voted unanimously Friday afternoon to approve an amendment to the Club’s constitution and by-laws to allow singers of all genders and all voice parts.