Eswatini choirs must start in the Standard category
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Times of Eswatini
The Eswatini Choral Music Association will require local choirs to begin in the Standard category before moving up to Large. The new rule will apply from the next Standard Bank choral music competition, to improve performance standards, according to its president, Sihle Gumbi.
From next year’s edition of the Standard Bank choral music competition in Eswatini, all choirs will have to compete first in the Standard category. The measure was adopted at the Eswatini Choral Music Association’s annual general meeting held earlier this month, the Times of Eswatini reports.
Choirs finishing first in the Standard category will be able to move up to the Large category if they score at least 75% of the points. Conversely, the last-placed choir in the Large category will be relegated if its score is below 75% and will remain in Standard for the whole of the following year, including the Ntjilo-Ntjilo competition. The association’s president, Sihle Gumbi, says relegation will not apply if the last-placed choir scores at least 80 points.
Sihle Gumbi says some choirs that entered directly in Large did not have enough choristers on the day of the competition, despite the commitments they had made beforehand. The association wants to preserve the competition’s standard and the balance between the two categories. At the Ntjilo-Ntjilo competition in September, HCMS choir won 70,000 emalangeni, as our article on HCMS’s victory in the choral competition recalls.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
