(2009)
Duration: 5 minutes
SATB 8-part chorus
First performed by Ishirini, cond. Jeremy Rouse, 3 April 2009, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
UK premiere Ishirini, cond. Jeremy Rouse, 20 September 2009, Queens’ College Chapel, Cambridge
Listen to Moyo Wangu by Alan Charlton performed by Ishirini conducted by Jeremy Rouse:
Programme Note
Moyo Wangu is an arrangement of a traditional Tanzanian melody composed specially for the Cambridge-based choir Ishirini’s tour of Tanzania in the Easter of 2009. The work was given its premiere on a sweltering day in a Lutheran church in Dar Es Salaam. The reception from the excitable audience was quite unlike anything in Europe: a deafening cacophony of ululating, shouting, cheering and clapping that started even as the piece was reaching its conclusion. Essentially a set of variations rounded off with a climactic coda, Moyo Wangu starts simply and gradually builds in textural complexity throughout.