In St. John’s, Seraoko dreamed of moving to Europe. His classmates, he said, have glorified the continent as “a Mecca for classical music and musical expression.”After studying with a teacher Michael MasoteOne of South Africa’s most influential voice actors in classical music, Selaocoe finally took her big leap in 2010 when she enrolled at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester at the age of 18.
Despite his classical training on the cello, all came out of Selaocoe songs. “My voice does things my body can’t imagine, but my musicality can,” he said over lunch near his home in Chorton Kum Hardy in Manchester’s southern suburbs. .
Selaocoe learned to sing the same way languages were learned as children. Growing up, his parents were domestic workers and machinists, and taught him cultural rituals and churches. About six years ago, he said, his friend gave his Selaocoe the foundation for his umngqokolo (a form of South African overtone singing). It added a new dimension to the musician’s already charismatic performance.
His on-stage request for audience participation in his performance at Bridgewater Hall epitomizes Selaocoe’s belief in the cohesive power of voice. At rehearsals for his 2018 Manchester collective show ‘Sirocco’, Seraoko was “singing something to demonstrate to the other ensemble his members,” said Adam Szabo, the group’s chief executive. said in a recent phone interview. “We encouraged him to do it on the show. It’s something he hasn’t done much before.” said there is.
Over lunch, Selaocoe frequently returned to the idea that “songs are so universal.” However, there are limits to its universality. For music journalist and author Ansel, “The song is universal, and the fact that people sing it is universal, but in fact the language, the meaning, the discourse of that song is not.”