MOSSEL BAY NEWS - An evening of song, including exciting international performances, will characterise next week's opening night of the Dias & Port Festival 2018.
On Thursday, 1 February, the audience will be thrilled by a delightful array of cultures, music and voices with vocal ensembles representative of the best and most unique voices in Mossel Bay.
Taking place in the Mossel Bay Town Hall and starting at 18:30, the occasion will be open to the public free of charge.
The Sinethemba Youth Group will open the proceedings with a modern twist on traditional praise singing.
Not only will the Erika Primary School choir perform at the event, but a speech group from the school will present the poetry of the late Adam Small.
Curro Mossel Bay private school's jazz band and its vocal ensemble will join the ever-popular and award-winning Mossel Bay Harmony Voices.
From Friemersheim, Zanah-Lee Erasmus and Mordegai Erasmus will lead an adorable children's ensemble in song.
Also from the rural hamlet of Friemersheim comes poet Lluyle Arendse, who is writing a special piece lauding Mossel Bay and its people.
Petronel Baard (right) and Zanah-Lee Erasmus will show their musical prowess.
He will be on stage delivering this poem, specially written for the opening night.
The award-winning male quartet, B Flat, led by Ronald Lewis from Sao Bras High School, is also part of the line-up and so is cabaret diva Petronel Baard and vocal all-rounder Herbie Michaels, accompanied by saxophonist Boesman Keyser.
Baard and Michaels will perform a duet, accompanied by Keyser.
One of last year's highlights among the local talent presented was a mural of Mossel Bay painted live on stage by artist and organiser of the Tarka Street Festival, James Malgas.
This year Malgas will once again take on a giant canvas to illustrate this year's theme, which focuses strongly on the people of Mossel Bay, making it the special town that claimed the title, Kwêla Town of the Year.
Herbie Michaels teams up with cabaret diva Petronel Baard and saxophonist Boesman Keyser.
In step with the by-now well-known festival theme, Where Cultures Meet, the local programme will be followed by performances by visiting international troupes.
This includes the Knersvlakte riel dancers, the Songscape beerfest band, Portuguese and Indonesian dancers, as well as the Chinese Hua Xing Arts Group - always a showstopper.
Entrance to the event, as with the rest of the Dias & Port Festival, is free.
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