14 Aug 2019

Kgalemang Tumediso Motsete Choir (KTM) has won the Grand Prix of Nations gold medal trophy among the seven choirs which competed at the Europe Choir Games at Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Grand Prix placed them at third position in the world. KTM’s public relations officer, Charity Semere said a choir from China snatched position one followed by Sweden’s Adolf’s Fredric Choir who got the second position. KTM was competing in category 10 where they were ranked in the top two with Adolf Fredric’s.

KTM competed with choirs from Romania, Belgium, China, Ghana, Latvia and Finland. She said all the choirs showcased diverse cultures from various nations whilst KTM was challenged as they concentrated on Botswana culture.

“Now that we have learnt music from various cultures we are going to practice and perform their music so that we do better next time if we are invited,” she said. 

Semere was grateful for Batswana’s encouragement and support to the choir, and said KTM and its supporters were proud of the hard work and commitment the choir had endured to bring the trophy home.      

Meanwhile, KTM’s music director, Luka Disho said the trip for the choir, which has been in existence for the past 25 years, was an eye opener in that from the preparation perspective, they had to work under pressure to deliver results.

“I am saying this because we were in the folklore music category. On August 8^th we prepared two songs which we were supposed to deliver in 15 minutes, which we did and qualified for the final,” he said. Disho explained that they were also asked to submit three songs by 11am the following day which they did within a space of 10 hours and submitted to the jury for assessment. He said the pressure was immense but that the choir performed to its level best and managed to bring the trophy home. ENDS