Ugandan choir to perform at queen's jubilee

By Mathias Mazinga
ALTHOUGH Uganda’s African Children’s Choir has not attracted massive media publicity in Uganda, the ensemble is one of the most reputable musical organisations with enormous international acclamation.

Further to projecting the beautiful image of Uganda, the choir has also enabled thousands of needy children to access quality education.

But here is another marvelous achievement for the African Children’s Choir. They have been selected to perform during the celebrations to mark the Queen of England’s Diamond Jubilee at Buckingham Palace next week.

The 12 Ugandans selected will sing the o cial jubilee song for Her Majesty. The jubilee anthem, Sing, was written by international music legends Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The African Children’s Choir will sing together with Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band, featuring the Military Wives. “We are genuinely honoured that our children were selected by Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber to participate in this incredible opportunity.

We are especially grateful to our sponsors, friends and donors for their continued support in helping us raise and educate Africa’s most vulnerable children over the past 27 years.

“Without this support, we wouldn’t be enjoying the level of international acclaim we have attained,” said Barbara Walusimbi, the Director for Africa Operations.

Scott Lambie, the charity’s director of development said they were happy to be a part of history. “It is indeed a land-mark achievement,” said Lambie.

Further to their performance at Buckingham Palace, the choir will feature on the BBC World Service’s Breakfast Show, Network Africa, and in a documentary that will be televised worldwide.

“We are grateful to the BBC and Decca Records for their generosity in bringing us to London,” said a beaming Walusimbi.

The African Children’s Choir was founded in 1984 by Ray Barnet, a Canadian Missionary. Barnet was in Uganda to conduct a research on the starvation of children in Gulu.

But while in Kampala, Barnet saw some children singing joyfully, despite being povertystricken. This gave him the conviction that Africa was an awesome place that needed peace.

He conceived the idea to start a choir for African children, to tell the world about the beautiful side of Africa. Today, the African Children’s Choir is also active in Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa.

The choir is a programme of Music for Life, a registered charity in the UK, USA, Canada, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa and has educated over 52,000 needy children and touched the lives of 100,000 more vulnerable people through relief and development programmes.