Robben Island’s Hallelujah

Illuminated

In his memoir of surviving the brutal apartheid prison Robben Island, South African activist Sedick Isaacs recalls an extraordinary event about which little has been recorded - "the creation and training of the eighty-member choir [of political prisoners] for the production of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus'.

The incongruous beauty of the choir’s performance – and the rich history of the Messiah in South Africa – is brought to life by former political prisoners, by musicians and academics who reveal the power of music as it was experienced on the Island – music as escape, protest, refuge and salvation.

Original compositions, mixing and production by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder Hallelujah Chorus – reconstruction arranged and conducted by Leon Starker with singers from Fezeka Secondary School in Gugulethu under the leadership of Monde Mdingi, with additional singers from across Cape Town Also featuring: The South African Messiah, a translation of Handel’s Messiah by Michael Masote Archival tape courtesy of UWC-Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives, Villon Films and the SABC With special thanks to Marcus Solomon, Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi, Kutlwano Masote, Christopher Cockburn, Maraldea Isaacs and Lebohang Sekholomi

Produced by Catherine Boulle A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4