Local composer has something up his sleeve

Springs – Choral music composer, conductor, singer and keyboardist Charles ‘Basie’ Lesia (64) hopes to stage SA’s first unique sacred oratorio.

A sacred oratorio is a large-scale musical composition for solo voices, refrain and an orchestra primarily based on a spiritual topic.Born and raised in Kwa-Thema, Lesia mentioned his love for music started as a baby raised in a musical household.“I’ve a deep love and keenness for music. It’s a sustaining drive in my life. I can not think about man’s existence on earth with out music.“It is without doubt one of the biggest privileges one may be endowed with. I thank God for the privilege of serving humanity via music,” he mentioned.Lesia remembers how his household got here collectively after supper to sing hymns.Aged 13, he joined the St Andrew’s Anglican Church choir and by no means left. He’s now the organist and conductor.“At school, I used to be widespread for taking part in the melodica after studying the songs we sang for competitions. I later joined a newly fashioned male voices quartet, the place I wrote my first music.“We collectively joined the Kwa-Thema Youth Choir in 1979 underneath the watchful eye of Dr Ludumo Magangane,” he added.Lesia mentioned Magangane taught them music idea, and he learnt to play the piano.“I began coaching and conducting a choir whereas nonetheless within the Kwa-Thema Youth Choir. My first expertise of singing to each piano and orchestral accompaniment was throughout our time within the youth choir.“I sang as a soloist in works like Messiah by Handel, Hayden’s The Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Alexander’s Feast,” he defined.Within the early 90s, Lesia took a break from choral music and led the Afro-fusion band Melodi, formally referred to as Candy Concord.“I’m the resident conductor of the Sempre Avante Chamber Choir, the Ekurhuleni Choral Alive Initiative Challenge Refrain and the St Andrew’s Anglican Church Choir,” he added.The Sempre Avante Chamber Choir, previously The Vita Nova Choir, fashioned as a fundraising choir for the Vita Nova House for folks with disabilities. The title was modified to broaden the choir’s fundraising companions.In March 2021, a fellow vocalist impressed Lesia with the phrases, ‘God in three individuals, blessed trinity’.“On the time, the interplay didn’t imply a lot to me,” he mentioned.However within the days following, Lesia struggled to sleep.“Ultimately, I began listening to the sounds of various devices. Some I had by no means heard earlier than,” he defined.In a couple of month, Lesia wrote, organized and recorded all of the music for 22 songs, they usually fashioned The Holy Trinity.With the assistance of different native musical maestros, Lesia is getting ready to placed on an incredible present.“Now we have an extended technique to go relating to funds, however the expertise is there. When this present lastly occurs, it will likely be magical. We need to do it right here, for our folks,” Lesia concluded.