Pretoria Choirs Present a Celebration of Choir Music

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · July 24, 2023

The Pretoria Archdiocese Catholic Church Choirs Music Association (PCCCMA) is hosting a music concert this coming Saturday July 29. The concert will take place at the Mothutlung Community Hall in Mothutlung township, near Brits.

The PCCCMA has been hosting the annual music concert for over fifteen years. The concerts feature the combined PCCCMA choir and a variety of choirs from various parishes in the archdiocese of Pretoria. The concert features the choirs singing originally composed liturgical music, as well as traditional Catholic hymns. “For this year`s concert line-up we`ve got a number of new choirs who will be taking to the stage for the first time. Another feature is that the originally composed music is not going to be adjudicated, nor will there be trophies awarded in this category”, Mr Jury Tshoke, chairperson of the PACCCMA told The Southern Cross.

The intention behind the concert is to raise funds for the general administration of the association. This includes the buying of the trophies awarded at the event annually, the hosting of music workshops and the payment of affiliation fees to the Inter Diocese Catholic Church Choirs Music Association (ICCCMA), among other reasons.

“The concert is one of the three ways in which we raise funds for the PACCCMA. The other two ways are through the music competitions we have every year in September and the annual affiliation concert during the first three months of each year,” Mr Tshoke said.

The concert was started as a replacement to the annual choir music festival known as the Sacred Music Festival, which took place every year in May at the Christ the New Man Church hall in Garankuwa, north of Pretoria. The Sacred Music Festival was an idea nurtured by late Stigmatine Father Michele D`Annucci (whose book of tributes is reviewed in the August 2023 issue of The South Cross magazine).

“Our concert is almost following the same concept introduced by the late Fr Michele. Among the songs that will be sung at the concert are liturgical songs like Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, all of which will be new compositions,” Mr Tshoke explained.

The PCCCMA constantly stages performances at various places and times in the archdiocese of Pretoria. “We lead the music department during episcopal and presbyteral ordinations in the archdiocese. We also performed at the 75th anniversary celebration of the SACBC and recently we led the singing at the ordination of four deacons,” Mr Tshoke pointed out.

The current PACCCMA is made up of twelve registered choirs from twenty choirs that are registered with the organisation. Beside the annual music festival, the PACCCMA also hosts an annual choirs competition (scheduled for September 30 this year), and also participates in the annual Inter-Diocese Catholic Church Choirs Music Association (ICCCMA) music festival, which takes place on December 2 and 3 this year.