Thokoza in I Sing for Freedom The off-Broadway play I Sing for Freedom is not a drama or musical exactly like people are used to seeing in a theater. Instead of fancy sets or special effects, the show is somewhat small and simple. It stars members of the acapella group Thokoza who all perform without any musical instruments along with them. The performance is really more of an involving experience, where the six women who star in the show sing, talk together, and then sing some more. It brings you in to the story. All of the women are around sixty or even older. Some of the women are from South Africa and the others are American, but they share a common understanding that the world around them has changed a lot. The women share their stories about their lives from the past and about their roles as mothers and grandmothers. Singing provides a common bond between the women and across the ages. What makes the performance so intimate is the way it is presented. Everything is very informal and, at times, being in the audience feels more like being in the presence of some old friends than watching a professional production.

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Sometimes when it is used the audience misses the music, but this is not the case in I Sing for Freedom. The singing voices of the women are rich in sound and so powerful. So it seems like instruments are playing in the background because their voices blend together and the harmony makes its own musical sound. When I was waiting for the performance to begin, I admit I was nervous, given that I knew many of the songs would be in the South African language rather than in English. I do not speak this language and I am still learning English. Even when the words are not understandable to me, I could feel the emotion of the woman who was singing it. This taught me something about music and singing in particular, even if you do not speak the language, you can understand what they are trying to communicate if there is enough emotion and passion in the way that the songs are being sung. In the African songs, I was able to hear the strength of each of these women and the things they have suffered through for so many years. I realized that in a few of the African songs, the performers included English words in the lyrics. I noticed that in a South…