Ubuntu: Connecting Through Choral Music

In 1995, I spent my summer in South Africa, teaching music at the first black charter school in the overwhelmingly white city of Kimberley. I was honored to be a part of post-apartheid integration, but was eager to venture into the township of Galashawe and connect with black South Africans in their own community. I made contact with St. Boniface High School, and the principal was delighted by my idea to form a chorus.

On the day of the auditions, I bicycled out to the township wondering what I would find. My experience with high school choruses was my alma mater's chorus—where I had been the only boy—and the high school choir I directed at home where there were a hundred girls and only a handful of boys.

My assumption that the turnout at St. Boniface would be of a similar girls-to-boys ratio was completely wrong. As I approached the schoolyard, I first thought I was witnessing try-outs for the school rugby team. Much to my surprise, the 100-plus boys gathered there were waiting to audition for my chorus!

After I developed a rapport with my new choristers, I asked them how is it that so many boys sing. They didn't understand my question. I explained to them that in the United States, boys are not encouraged to sing, and when they do, they are often made fun of and called hurtful names. It was their turn to be surprised. They explained that in South African culture, if you are male and you do not sing, you would be ostracized. Can you imagine?

Choral singing is the perfect manifestation of ubuntu. When people sing together there is an indescribable feeling of "connectedness" that nothing can duplicate.

I eventually discovered why all South Africans sing. It has to do with an African concept known as ubuntu: A person is a person through other people. Think about it. As humans, we realize our humanity by our relationships with other people. Throughout black South African history—from ancient times when societies were migratory to the more recent struggle against apartheid—the people have relied on each other for their very survival.

There is a modern-day illusion in Western cultures that we don't really need other people to survive—and I suppose it doesn't take a village to survive. But who wants only to survive? America especially is an I can do it on my own" society where an individual's accomplishments are more highly valued than a group effort. And yet we humans are social creatures. To reach our full potential we must stay connected to our fellow humans. This lesson of ubuntu has profoundly influenced my choral life ever since.

So what do choruses have to do with ubuntu? Everything! Choral singing is the perfect manifestation of this wonderful concept. When people sing together there is an indescribable feeling of "connectedness" that nothing can duplicate.

In an age where many of us hardly know our neighbors, singing in a chorus gives us a sense of community. The young men I've met through the Keystone State Boychoir know this. They may not be able to articulate it, but there is a reason they get out of bed early every Saturday morning to come to rehearsal. The reason is quite simply, ubuntu.

When people lose their connectedness to other people, things can go horribly wrong. We wonder how tragedies like school shootings can occur and say things like, "They're not human beings, they're monsters." Precisely. Somewhere along the way the perpetrators of such heinous crimes became disconnected from their fellow humans and lost their humanity.

We sometimes lose sight of the fact that real happiness does not come from how much money we have, the size of our house, or the clothes we wear. Real, lasting joy comes from our connectedness with other people. South Africans, with their wonderful choral traditions, remind us that one of the most powerful ways to feel that connection is to sing in a chorus. Ubuntu!