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Ndlovu Youth Choir Resource Guide

Ndlovu Youth Choir in red posing out of doors.

As a replacement to the Study Guides we’ve sent in the past, we are offering these easy to access links that you can share in your classroom along with information to help your students get the most out of the school matinee they are attending.

School Matinee

Ndlovu Youth Choir

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 • 11:00am-Noon

 

Hailing from South Africa, the Ndlovu Youth Choir uplifts audiences around the globe with powerhouse vocals, mesmerizing choreography, and infectious energy. The group infuses South African genres with chart-topping hits, moving them into intriguing new territory.

They strive to push the creative boundaries of song and dance to reach and touch audiences with a message of hope, love and togetherness.

Ndlovu Youth Choir auditioned for America’s Got Talent (Season 14), making it to the finals. After appearing on the show, they signed a record deal with Syco Entertainment. They have recorded four albums: Africa (2019), Rise (2020), Grateful (2022), Celebrate (2023).

In 2025, a translation of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” into Zulu language was authorized by surviving members of the band and the Mercury Phoenix Trust. The Zulu version is performed by the Ndlovu Youth Choir and combines isicathamiya (an a capella style) with kwassa kwassa (a type of music and dance from the Democratic Republic of Congo).

 

Learn More about school matinees

The entire choir standing in front of a wall, dressed in turquoise and black, and looking straight into the camera.

Videos

 

Bohemian Rhapsody (Official Music Video) Zulu version (5:41 min)

The Art of Africa feature (24:22 min)

The art and culture magazine from Johannesburg, South Africa, featured Ndlovu in 2025

Ndlovu Youth Choir closes The Earthshot Prize Awards 2024 with their performance of Africa by Toto (2:56 min)

Ndlovu’s 2023 return to America’s Got Talent as All-Stars, performing the original song We Will Rise (6:48 min)

Learn More:

Ndlovu Youth Choir website

Playlist on Spotify

Playlist on Apple Music

Interesting To Know:

Ndlovu Youth Choir is part of the Ndlovu Care Group

For the past 30 years Ndlovu Care Group has offered Health Care Services and Community Development with a holistic approach in the Sekhukhune District of Limpopo, South Africa as a nonprofit organization. It works with communities to design and implement innovative, evidence-based solutions and programs through an integrated approach addressing healthcare, child and youth needs, infrastructure support and research for improved cohesive community development.

 

Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population. It became one of South Africa’s 12 official languages in 1994.


California Arts Standards

The 2019 California Arts Standards provide guidance toward a common goal: for all California students to fully participate in a rich and well-rounded arts education. The standards are based on the artistic processes of creating; performing/producing/presenting; responding; and connecting. Our school matinees correspond to responding and connecting:

  • Responding—Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and Analyze Artistic Work; Standard 8: Interpret Intent and Meaning in Artistic Work; Anchor Standard 9: Apply Criteria to Evaluate Artistic Work
  • Connecting—Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and Relate Knowledge and Personal Experiences to Make Art; Anchor Standard 11: Relate Artistic Ideas and Works with Societal, Cultural, and Historical Context to Deepen Understanding

Common Core Standards

Common Core broadens the definition of a “text,” viewing performance as a form of text, so students are experiencing and interacting with a text when they attend a performance. Seeing live performance provides rich opportunities to write reflections, narratives, arguments etc.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.3