Episodes
| First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|
| 20250218 |
Robben Island\u2019s Hallelujah
In his memoir of surviving the brutal apartheid prison Robben Island, South African activist Sedick Isaacs recalls an extraordinary event about which little has been recorded: the creation and training of the eighty-member choir [of political prisoners] for the production of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’”
The incongruous beauty of the choir’s performance – and the rich history of the ‘Messiah’ in South Africa – is brought to life by former political prisoners, by musicians and academics who reveal the power of music as it was experienced on the Island – music as escape, protest, refuge and salvation.
Producer: Catherine Boulle
Original compositions, mixing and production by: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder
‘Hallelujah Chorus’ – Arrangement & conductor: Leon Starker
Choir: Singers from Fezeka Secondary School in Gugulethu under the leadership of Monde Mdingi, with additional hoc singers from across Cape Town.
Also featuring: ‘The South African Messiah’, a translation of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by Michael Masote.
Archival tape courtesy of: UWC-Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives, Villon Films and the SABC.
With special thanks to: Marcus Solomon, Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi, Kutlwano Masote, Christopher Cockburn, Maraldea Isaacs and Lebohang Sekholomi.
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio Four.
The story of Handel's famous chorus performed on Robben Island.
The story of an extraordinary performance by political prisoners on Robben Island of Handel's famous chorus.