Young choral music composers are invited to enter the 20th yearly Massed Choir Festival.

Young choral music composers are invited to enter the 20th yearly Massed Choir Festival.

The South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) Endowment for the National Arts and organisers Transnet Foundation, SABC and the Sowetan Massed Choir Festival urge up-and-coming choral composers to enter their work for a commemorative choral composition competition.

The winning piece will be performed at the 2008 Massed Choir Festival in Johannesburg in December. The event is part of the Aggrey Klaaste Nation Building Foundation. It is named after Sowetan's late editor-in-chief and founding father of the newspaper's community development philosophy, Aggrey Klaaste.

Twenty choirs will perform the winning composition in Johannesburg in November.

Composition guidelines:

lLyrics may be in any of the 11 official languages;

lThe composition should be a cappella (unaccompanied), written in either tonic solfa or staff notation;

lNot shorter than four minutes or longer than six;

lThe song's life span should be beyond the 20th Massed Choir Festival;

lComposer to submit a score and, where possible, a recording of the composition.

Submit entries by hand to Samro House, 73 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Joburg, or mail them to Samro Nation Building Choral Competition, PO Box 31609, Braamfontein, 2017 by 31 May. - Victor Mecoamere