Concert #2: Lonnie Norwood & Bongani Magatyana

*Please note, when you purchase a ticket, you will receive an email with the concert link closer to the date of the concert

Lonnie Norwood
Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Lonnie Norwood, Jr. grew up with an unquenchable passion for music and community service. He knew early on that both would be integral parts of his life’s work.
Lonnie joined the Artistic staff at Chicago Children’s Choir in 2012 and has recently been appointed Director of Africana Music & Studies at CCC. Lonnie is an in-demand clinician of Afircan American sacred music, helping educators and ensembles understand its historial significance, incomparable African influence, vocal techniques and the Black liberation aspects behind the vast collected of music.
Lonnie is currently working on an EP called ‘Rooted’- a collection of songs that have immensely informed his mission as a culture keeper. The songs are traditional African American songs with some original pieces in traditional styles.

Lonnie will be sharing some of the songs from his upcoming recording.

Bongani Magatyana
Bongani Magatyana is a professional music director /composer /theatrical producer living in Khayelitsha Township in Cape Town, South Africa. He was born in Cape Town in a township called Old Crossroads; his father was a self-taught choir conductor in the Old Apostolic Church. A very popular composer, his folk-inspired choral compositions—popular pieces for South Africa’s major choral competitions—are sung by choirs around South Africa and internationally.
This past year, Bongani has been working on an album of his most loved original folk songs from the past 14 years. It is the first time that he has brought these songs to the studio with South African singers. The album (which will be released later this year) is called ‘Sing With Me’ because, as Bongani describes “in our traditional township concerts, our black audiences don’t wait for you to invite them, if they know the song they just sing along’
For this concert, Bongani songs will be performed by 8 incredible singers and this will be a CD release premiere of the project!