In the second season of the Jive Culture Shock competition, we see several new teams making their debut on the cultural stage.
This is exciting because it shows the potential growth of the new online klopse and Malay Choir show.
One of these new kids on the block is the Los Amigos Choir, whose team members all hail from Athlone and Mitchells Plain.
Spokesperson Shamiel Millers says: “We decided to join Culture Shock Season 2 as it’s currently the only platform for us to showcase our culture.
“We initially started out as a thikr jamaah, making thikr by different houses every Thursday and other days on the request of people.
“Our marketing manager Shadley can speak some Spanish and he came up with this name Los Amigos – which basically means The Friends.
“This is how many of the older Malay choirs and klopse started back in the day – a group of friends and family with a love for their culture who wanted to uplift their community.”
Miller says with Covid showing no signs of abating and a third wave of infections already predicted for December, it was clear there would be none of the usual activities again.
“We didn’t see any teams doing practices or road marches.
“So when the advert came out for Culture Shock Season 2, we made a joke and said ‘jy, os kan nogals a team bymekaar sit’.
“That was a point of conversation for like a week. The night of the deadline for entries we had a Zoom meeting with each other and then decided to enter a team.”
Just by looking at that Zoom meeting, Culture Shock definitely has that futuristic feel about it because back in the day moes Boeta Doelie eers vir Pang Koesiestes gese het hulle gaan ‘n team begin, en dan moet Antie Tiefa vir almal innie familie laat wiet het.
But boom, it’s 2021, en met een Zoom call is als oor.
Talking about the Los Amigos journey, Miller says: “Initially we didn’t have enough members for a team, as some of us could not commit.
“And a lot of our guys are family men, so most of us went into management and coordinating roles within the team.
“With us all playing by different teams, we had picked more members from outside our friend circle for this team.
“Our members range from 15 to 40 years of age.
“We made a list of coaches and voorsingers as well and went through a process of elimination as to who we really want.
“Moosa Parker and his team has an impeccable record when it comes to winning trophies.
“Our liedjies lead singer, we believe, is by far the best at the moment, Taariq Abrahams having won his section as well as the prestigious Top 8 in his category.
“I have seen Taariq Abrahams in action at the Legends singkoor so I for one can’t wait to see him in the indoor setting of the Artscape where Jive Culture Shock takes place.
“Shadley has done a great job in marketing our brand via social media, namely Facebook and Instagram, where the supporters can easily find us on the Los Amigos Cultural Group page, so they should feel free to follow.”
Los Amigos has released their introduction video via those platforms, as well as their theme song – Amigos Para Siempre – Friends For Life – which is basically what their team stands for.
The Los Amigos might be the new kids on the Culture Shock block, but they are coming to do something different and they are coming to win.
This is very clear, taking into account that they have acquired the services of Moenier Monox Adams, who is a seasoned moppie winner, and Ghakeem Roman who also boasts a number of first prizes, including the last one before we closed due to the pandemic.
With these two moppie kings forming part of the Los Amigos skietgoed, the team is definitely going to be difficult to beat.
Both Roman and Adams have years of theatre experience as well, so the Jive Culture Shock style won’t be new to them.
Having these two on one team is the moppie singing equivalent of having Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi playing for the same soccer team.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za