Lesotho Choir Performs Tonight with Coldplay at Prince Harry’s Invite
At the invite of Prince Harry, a Lesotho choir will perform tonight alongside British supergroup Coldplay at the prince’s Sentebale charity concert, at Kensington Palace, in London. It’s been an incredible week in the UK for the talented Basotho Youth Choir of six boys and six girls – aged between seven and 19 – who come from a country of […]
At the invite of Prince Harry, a Lesotho choir will perform tonight alongside British supergroup Coldplay at the prince’s Sentebale charity concert, at Kensington Palace, in London.
It’s been an incredible week in the UK for the talented Basotho Youth Choir of six boys and six girls – aged between seven and 19 – who come from a country of just two million people, and will tonight join a bill headlined by a band who have over seven million followers.
This is the furtherest any of them have ever travelled, and they’ve been having a blast – sight seeing, visiting Kensington Palace, rehearsing at the BRIT School with award-winning singer Joss Stone (who visited Lesotho in 2014 in her role as Sentebale ambassador).. and enjoying a surprise visit from the royal patron himself, Prince Harry.
According to Sentebales’s facebook page, the choir members have been up “bright and early” this morning ready for tonight’s concert, but have pointed out that “tonight is about much more than just incredible music from Coldplay, George The Poet, Laura Mvula, Nico & Vinz and Joss Stone.
“Tonight is about raising awareness of adolescents living with HIV in southern Africa. Just one in three children are accessing the care they desperately need to live long and healthy lives. Stigma is the biggest barrier to those not accessing treatment.
“Through our work, these adolescents are able to get the care, education and support they need.”
One of the choir members is Relebohile ‘Mutsu’ Postane who was just four the first time he met Prince Harry in 2004. In 2006, the prince co-founded Sentebale (which means ‘forget me not’) with Prince Seeiso (who will also be at the concert) to help youngsters affects by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. In Lesotho one in three children are orphans and only one in five has access to primary school education. More than half the population lives in poverty.
Mutsu was reunited with the prince in November 2015 when the Senebales ‘Mamohato Children’s Centre was opened in Lesotho, and again yesterday in Croydon at the rehearsal.
The prince and Sentebale hope tonight’s charity concert – the first open-air pop concert on the East Lawn – will raise vital funds and awareness. The 3,000 tickets were sold-out in less than an hour in May.
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