A new dawn

It was one of those days between Christmas and New Year — you know the kind, when you're scrambling around for something to do, you've eaten too much, you've partied too much, and you've got to get through that dead week at the very end of the year when quite frankly you don't feel like doing anything — and I was bored and wanted something to listen too.

Being a fan of both opera and traditional jazz, I thought Afrotenor might be the ticket. Featuring three young Tshwane tenors (a la Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and that other one who always gets overlooked but who at least isn't Helmut Lotti), the album features their take on classics such as "O Sole Mio", "Nessun Dorma", "Time to Say Goodbye" and (eek! Christmas carol overload!) "Silent Night".

But actually the bulk of the album features such South African standards as "Meadowlands", "Thula Thula", "Malaika", and the obligatory Madiba tribute, "Rolihlahla Mandela". And these, as with everything else, is also given the opera treatment — with mixed results.

Afrotenor - Given Nabele, Lucky Sibanda, and Agos Moahi - decided to "breathe classical and very powerful operatic life into (African classics), some the staple of tradition and storytelling", according to the liner notes.

"For many of these songs to be done in an operatic setting, something which, until now has never been done before, took some doing. The entire mood of many tracks changed because of it, which makes for very interesting listening," says Lucky.

The translation of jazz classics into opera is certainly a worthy musical experiment, but I wasn't altogether happy with the results, despite the trio's technically superb voices.

I must admit that "Meadowlands" is one of my favourite songs, with its rollicking melody, infectious beat, and cheery singing, so at odds with the lyrics. I can't hear it without being transported to a Sophiatown dancehall, skirts swirling and toes tapping. And performing it any other way just doesn't do it for me — but then, that's just my opinion. On the other hand, the lullaby "Thula Thula", comes off quite well.

Taken individually, "classicising" these favourites has varying degrees of success. But I found that one track sounded too much like another, and when you have an entire album filled with the same voices soaring in the same way, and all with the same swelling orchestral treatment, it gets very repetitive.

In fact I found myself skipping tracks like there was no tomorrow, and indeed am writing this review now just so I don't have to give the album another listen.