Shanti Mathias and Gabi Lardies review a sweaty, ecstatic night at the Auckland Arts Festival.

“Imagine a dance floor, the world’s greatest gospel choir and a DJ set for the ages” is the tantalising description of History of House provided by Auckland Arts Festival. It definitely wasn’t just Gabi and I who thought this sounded like a great time – the line to get into the Town Hall went all the way past Aotea Square, and the promised dance floor was packed. 

The event is supposedly themed around house music, admittedly not a genre I’m particularly familiar with – I’ve spent much more time listening to my mum’s African music CDs than I have in clubs with DJs. While theoretically supposed to educate people about house music and how it emerged out of disco, this mostly turned out to be DJ Simon Lewicki (Groove Terminator) spouting platitudes like “once people found meaning on the dance floor, it couldn’t be stopped” and “gay or straight, black or white, everyone belongs in the club”. 

That said, these occasional pauses did play an important role: there was so much dancing that, despite the cool March evening outside, it was HOT. Two people behind me were passing around a handheld fan, and people were ducking out to get cold drinks from the bar. At least those of us on the dance floor were mostly confined to bopping in our 60 square centimetres of space: the Soweto performers on the stage were dancing, twerking, clapping their hands, as well as singing their hearts out. Whenever there was a pause, they stopped for water and to mop off the sweat. 

While the house music didn’t particularly thrill me – I knew very few of the songs – I loved the energy of the show, which was enough to get lots of people with seated tickets up and dancing too. While each individual singer was strong, I particularly loved it when they added complex harmonies to the house music beats. This felt like a true fusion of styles, working with the straightforward lyrics of dance music and making it more musically textured. 

I also attended the choir’s Hope concert the day before, and could see some of the same patterns in both shows. In “History of House” and “Hope” there was extensive reference to the US civil rights movement, including playing footage of Martin Luther King’s “Let Freedom Ring” speech. While the words are powerful, and the sentiment inarguable, it rang a little hollow. South Africa, where the Soweto Gospel Choir is from, has an incredibly important racial struggle of its own, so why not refer to one of Nelson Mandela’s rousing speeches? Given the political message, why not reference that in terms of New Zealand, Australia or South Africa, rather than the US? 

For me, the parts of the Hope concert I enjoyed most weren’t the English language covers of songs like ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Heaven Help Us All’. Instead, the songs in South African languages, six of the 12 official languages of the country, were the most enjoyable. While I didn’t understand the words, amazing breakdancing and high kicks from the choir helped add another layer of interpretation to the words. I especially loved that the choir didn’t just interact with each other with their voices, but with their bodies, moving around on stage, raising their hands, leaning towards each other. At the History of House show, they also interacted with the sign language interpreters. 

But the best part of both performances was the unabashed energy the choir put in, creating a truly joyful spectacle. / Shanti Mathias

One of the things I enjoy most in life is dancing. Don’t get me wrong – I have zero training, zero talent and zero moves beyond bopping and disco hands – this is not about being good, it is about the feeling of moving to a beat and being free in your body. Sometimes, it is about sharing this feeling with other people who are also little leaves in the breeze of the beat. History of House promised just that and more – the Soweto Gospel Choir. They are beloved regulars to the Auckland Arts Festival, but I’ve not yet had a chance to see them. 

All seats in the stalls area of the town hall were gone, and instead hundreds of Aucklanders were packed in, heating and moistening up the air. Never ever had I seen so many people out on a Wednesday night. The case for Tāmaki Makaurau being a real city grows. Being both a touch vertically challenged, Shanti and I made our way to a spot near the front, where we had a clear view of the choir in their baggy coloured pants and matching T-shirts with a purple burst printed on the front. 

DJ Groove Terminator may have been in the middle, but it was the choir our eyes were trained on. They took turns leading songs, synchronised their dancing, and encouraged the crowd to clap along. 

Do I know much about house music? Absolutely not. But when bangers like Chic’s ‘Le Freak’ and Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ came on I was feeling it. My limbs were jingling and jangling to New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ and I sang along to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer.’ The selection followed a historical progression starting in the 1970s and presumably leading up today, though only the 1970s and 1980s got little spoken introductions from DJ Groove Terminator. DJs are not usually given a microphone and a part of me wished things had stayed that way. As Shanti mentioned, many platitudes were thrown out and I would have preferred that the music simply continued. It is possible though, that these interludes served as essential breaks for the choir, who quickly sipped water or wiped their brows. 

At times it seemed the musical selection went a little off topic. I struggled to understand how a remix of Aretha Franklin’s ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’ or a reworking of ‘Hallelujah’ fit in and I found myself wanting more House. Still, it’s hard to imagine a better combination of talent, fun and genre bending. We left sweaty with wonderfully tired legs, amazed at the energy the choir had given for the whole 90 minutes. I am considering painting a purple burst on one of my T-shirts. / Gabi Lardies