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UFS Choirs Entertaining and Uplifting Staff and Students

25 March 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied

The Bloemfontein Campus Choir singing in front of the Main Building for students in celebration of Human Rights Day.

Students on the Bloemfontein Campus were treated to a lunch-hour music performance by the campus choir – an uplifting musical production led by the indomitable Sibongile Mngoma, conductor of the choir on the Bloemfontein Campus. The performance, which was in celebration of Human Rights Day, took place on 22 March 2022 in front of the Main Building. “We realised that people were hungry to hear beautiful music and beautiful sounds, and we started these pop-up performances just to revive people’s spirit and to give them hope,” says Lucy Sehloho, Officer: Arts and Culture in the Department of Student Affairs. As such, the staff and students at the University of the Free State (UFS) can look forward to a series of pop-up performances by the UFS choirs, specifically on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses.

One institution, different sounds

According to Sehloho, “the choirs are all running on the same constitution and the same code of conduct”. However, they are slightly different in sound, and this is determined by the audience to whom the respective choirs cater, and the number of members involved in the choir. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is known to cover genres such as rap, trap, classical music, and South African choral music. However, the Qwaqwa Campus choir focuses on choral music and various African sounds, while the South Campus choir manoeuvres through most of the abovementioned genres.

Preparing for life as an artist after university

It is important to note that the choirs are not just a safe space that encourages expression for young artists. Indeed, for many students it is also the beginning of a career. As such, they are taught lessons about financial literacy and the ability to brand themselves as artists. “One of the things I am teaching the students is how to price and cost themselves,” Sehloho highlighted. In fact, Sehloho argues that a major challenge among young performers when they leave university, is that – because they have never charged a fee for their service – they have no idea how to price and sustain themselves from the money they acquire. Consequently, industry experts are invited to provide insight into the realities of the world for artists once they start working. These industry experts include Dr Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha.

Future endeavours for the respective choirs

In addition to these lessons, the choirs have various projects that they are working on. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is currently planning performances for national holidays such as Freedom Day and Youth Day. The choir is also gearing up for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in celebration of Easter. The South Campus is specifically working towards the Network Festival in collaboration with Oranje Girls’ School. Furthermore, the Bloemfontein Campus choir will compete in the Sing for Gold competition in Barcelona this coming October. Once an institutional choir has been finalised, the Arts and Culture team will represent the UFS and the nation at the World Choir Games in 2023.

The main challenge experienced by the choirs

Although the choirs are succeeding in entertaining and uplifting the UFS community, there are still some challenges that hinder their growth to some extent. Racial diversity is one of these barriers. ‘’When someone looks at the choir, they don’t get to see the full picture of who we as the University of the Free State are in terms of diversity,’’ she explains. Therefore, Sehloho notes that the respective choirs are open to students from all walks of life in order to ensure racial and cultural diversity. As such, students who are interested in joining can contact Lucy Sehloho at SehlohoLP@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

UFS researcher engineers metal surfaces

2015-03-03

Shaun Cronjé, a PhD student, in a surface characterisation laboratory at the UFS.

It is well known that the surface of a component is much more vulnerable to damage than the interior, and that surface-originated degradation such as wear, corrosion, and fracture will eventually destroy the component.

“Engineering the surface, based on scientific knowledge, is essential to control these damaging processes. It also creates electronic and geometric structures on the surface which opens up a world of new devices, especially considering the properties on the nano-length scale,” said Prof Wiets Roos from the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS).

At elevated temperatures, atoms are more mobile and can migrate to grain boundaries and surfaces, which have a major influence on material properties. The redistribution of solute atoms between the surface and the bulk of the material is known as segregation. Knowing the behaviour of segregation at the surface/environment interface can be very useful in the development of new materials. As an example materials can be improved higher efficiency and lower fuel consumption, thus reducing environmental pollution.

The main aims of Prof Roos’s research are to understand surface segregation, use it as a tool, and contribute to the various surface engineering fields.

The surface characterisation laboratories at the UFS are well equipped to do high temperature segregation measurements, and have already proven a success, not only in the ability to prepare the specimens for characterisation, but also in developing models and procedures to quantify the segregation parameters.

The most recent results have demonstrated the importance of taking evaporation into account during quantification.” This has laid the foundation for future studies by installing the necessary hardware in a surface characterisation spectrometer, establishing experimental protocols, and improving an existing model (developed in this laboratory) for simulating segregation profiles,” said Prof Roos.

Segregation parameters allow the researcher to predict and utilise the surface concentration behaviour as a function of temperature and time. “This not only contributes to fields involving corrosion, oxidation, sintering, wear, chemical poisoning, powder metallurgy, and lubrication but adds to the development of self-healing devices,” said Prof Roos.

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