Drakensberg Boys Choir School

Talent abounds

The Drakensberg Boys Choir School is one of the few South African schools whose fame extends around the world.

The school consists of approximately 120 boys, from Grade 4 to Grade 9, who have been selected through auditions held across the country. Every day, the boys have seven academic lessons, including Mathematics, Languages, Economics, Natural and Social Sciences, IT, Art and Music subjects, as well as two hours of choir rehearsals. The choir performs an average of 80 concerts per year, which includes the weekly Wednesday concerts held in the Ken Mackenzie Auditorium on the school premises.

The choir tours at least twice a year, both nationally and internationally. In 2018, the Drakensberg Boys Choir competed at the 10th World Choir Games, held in Tshwane, South Africa. They won the Champions’ Title for ‘Scenic Pop’, with one of the highest scores in the entire competition. After their very first competitive competition, the Drakensberg Boys Choir has now been placed as the highest ranking Boys’ Choir in the world, on the Interkultur World Ranking List. Twenty-four members of the Drakensberg Boys Choir recently appeared as a guest act on ‘The Voice SA’. The boys were excited to work with the top musicians and industry specialists involved with the show. During the show, the boys performed the opening act of ‘Special Star’, with the final seven contestants, paying tribute to Mango Groove. Later in the show, the boys joined contestants performing Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, Johnny Clegg’s ‘The Crossing’, and culminated in a performance with Fokofpolisiekar frontman and ‘The Voice SA’ judge, Francois van Coke. Following on from this, they toured down to the National Arts Festival, in Makhanda, stopping for perfromances in Graaff-Reinet, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, and East London.

This school offers a unique educational opportunity for boys; it stimulates a boy’s spirit of adventure and exploration in the physical surroundings of the school, while nurturing the development of the mind and expression in innate musical talent. It is situated in a world heritage site, the Okhahlamba Drakensberg, and was found in 1967. The choir embraces the versatility, stamina and raw talent of boys from across the country and abroad to create a choral spectacular, jam-packed with a variety of musical styles ranging from classical and contemporary choral gems to billboard pop hits, to authentic indigenous South African music.