Mzansi Youth Choir

(Singing in Zulu)

If you're feeling like there's no one else,
if you search around to find yourself,
I don't want to live without love.
I don't want to live without love.

We're all reaching for a better day.
When you're down, I want to hear you say,
I don't want to live without love.
I don't want to live without love.

(Singing in Zulu)

You can feel safer on your own,
But no one can dance alone.
Even if it takes some time,
you need to step outside.

And if you're feeling like there's no one else,
If you search around to find yourself,
I don't want to live without love.
I don't want to live without love.

(Vocalizing)

And if you're feeling like there's no one else,

(vocalizing)

If you search around to find yourself,

(Vocalizing)

See, I don't want to live without love.
I don't want to live without love.
We're all reaching for a better day.

(Vocalizing)

When you're down,
I want to hear you say,
I don't want to live without love.
I don't want to live without love.

(Singing in Zulu)

If you're feeling like there's no one else,
If you search around to find yourself,
See, I don't want to live without love.
See, I don't want to live without love.

(Vocalizing)

Zoe: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host, Michael Mendenhall.

Michael Mendenhall: Yes, awesome. This is Zoe, and what do we say?

Zoe: Live from New York, welcome to the 4th Annual PeopleForce.

Michael: Awesome. That was pretty spectacular. I have to say, I love the Zulu language in this. That was so cool how you rearranged the song. It was really beautiful. It's great to get to hear from the Mzansi Youth Choir from Johannesburg, South Africa. Yes! It's not every day that you get to hear from these performers.

They actually created history in America's Got Talent. They received a golden buzzer for the first time ever from the audience, as well as everybody in the judges and in the crew. It was pretty amazing. And seriously, folks, that's never happened before. So if you did miss it, you can go in. Last week, they landed the spot in the finale.

Zoe: Yes.

So they're competing and we wish them the best success. Go out and vote. Get your friends, your relatives, everybody and go vote. We want to see you get through to become the final in America's Got Talent. Beautiful, and a beautiful sound. What you may not know about this choir is they have a beautiful story about how they were founded.

This group has a true mission and a purpose for what you do. They've overcome enormous odds to make up a world class ensemble. And I want to talk a little bit about that because it's remarkable what you've done. So Zoe, why don't you talk a little bit about how the choir was formed? And as we think about the theme, People for People, it's so appropriate that we brought you here to perform and we're happy that you could do it and come all the way from South Africa.

But talk about how you were founded.

Zoe: So after a very tragic incident, Yani and Marina Simon, a couple from South Africa saw this as an opportunity to move the youth off the streets. And with the love for choral music and for also what the choir has done for their children, they wanted to do something like that.

And they founded Mzansi Youth Choir in 2003. And this year, we turned 20 years.

Michael: Awesome. And how many members of the choir were there over the period of 20 years?

Zoe: So between 2003 and 2023, Mzansi Youth Choir has become a family where choristers plus minus 600 choristers have joined and moved on with their careers.

Michael: Yeah, what does it do? So when you think about the choir and all of you, you have aspirations and dreams. What have some of them gone off to do and what are some of your dreams?

Zoe: We have different dreams and the choir is a place where it kind of lays a foundation for those careers for us. It is a place where we get also opportunities that we've never thought that we would have as people from Soweto in a township.

We have people that have become accountants because of this choir, because of the morals and the discipline that we learn here. We have people that are doctors now, lawyers, the best of the best in their careers, because of the values that we've learned in the choir.

Michael: Have you become an aspiration for the youth of South Africa?

Zoe: Yes, I'd like to think that. There's some of the youth in Johannesburg that want to be a part of us. We are an inspiration even to older people, and they want to do what we do because of the respect, because of the values that they see in us, and the personalities that the choir has brought up. So people are very inspired by us, and we are very humbled to do that for them.

Michael: You know, you probably rehearse a lot.

Zoe: Yeah.

Michael: Yeah, I'm sure. And you then have to work and live, you know, we hear so many things in the media about Soweto and South Africa and some of the difficulties. Talk to me about the ensemble and what are some of the things they've had to overcome to participate in the choir?

And is there sort of a sense of community around the choir as well?

Zoe: Definitely. We come from different backgrounds and some of us even very difficult situations. And the choir has become a safe space for most of us. We are a family. We have brothers and sisters in the choir that make you forget all your troubles back at home.

The choir has also formed job opportunities for us to try and change situations at home. It has also become a place of education as well. And it's a place where we have a home, a second home, you'd say, and we get everything that we need from our founders, from our musical director and choreographer.

Michael: You were saying too, some don't have food.

Zoe: Yes.

Michael: So they actually come to the choir to be fed.

Zoe: Yeah.

Michael: Some don't have a father or a mother.

Zoe: Yes.

Michael: So they don't really have a sense of family at home.

Zoe: That’s true.

Michael: And that the choir has sort of provided that, so it's pretty amazing when you see the talent that's up here, the dedication, and the ethics around what they do and where they've come from, and it's so amazing to hear your voices. It's so beautifully done, and your arrangements, and choreography, by the way. They're sort of like Michael Jackson in that they bring a little of their culture into the choreography and it's just so beautifully done.

Zoe: Thank you.

Michael: And we're just so pleased to have you here.

Zoe: Thank you.

Michael: And thank you all. And by the way, stay tuned because they're going to be back performing a very contemporary song with a very special guest on Thursday evening, so you'll get to hear them again doing something pretty remarkable. So, thank you.

Zoe: Thank you.