Singing our heart out with Koolulam

NICOLA MILTZ

King David schools brought the Israeli hit musical phenomenon out in celebration of Israel and the schools’ 70th birthday. Koolulam is a mass musical initiative that turns the audience into the performer. The event was the group’s debut on the African continent. 

The South African audience was captivated as dreadlocked lead conductor Ben Yefet, got the crowd into the groove with an African version of the One Republic hit song I Lived.

When Koolulam co-founder Or Teicher came to South Africa recently, he told the SA Jewish Report his goal was “to get South Africans to live”. He and his team chose this particular song with its upbeat, catchy lyrics to encourage the South African community to “let their hair down, and start living”.

The night’s spectacular festivities kicked off with a marimba band made up of students from King David Senior Primary School Linksfield. The audience cheered as students Adiv Blumenthal, Amit Frankel, Jonty Hirschson, Jaiden Klotnick, Jordan Milner, Eden Novick, and Aiden Sack took to the stage after a slow start to the evening’s proceedings.

Thereafter, Yonatan Gruber, the dynamic Koolulam MC and host, entertained the crowds as people were split into groups comprising different vocal ranges including soprano, baritone, or alto.

In what seemed like an impossible task, Ben Yefet was mesmerising as he got the entire hall to sing in harmony and unison. It took him about an hour to turn a mass cacophonous noise of discordant sounds into a spectacular collaboration of melody and harmony. Hard work for a Sunday night’s entertainment, standing for four hours and rehearsing, but well worth the effort it took.

Local singer Granville Michaels added a South African flavour, together with eight local performers including drummers, percussionists, a violinist, and a cellist. 

The result – after several re-takes – was euphoric, as the audience sang loudly, “I owned every second that this world could give, saw so many places, the things that I did, yeah with every broken bone – I swear I lived!”

The Koolulam team comprised 13 people who came out from Israel to stage the show. They included the three co-founders, Michal Shahaf, Teicher, and Yefet, as well as cinematographer Ram Shweky, and sound engineers, musical directors, production managers, and other musicians.

Ben Atie, the outgoing head boy of King David Linksfield, told the SA Jewish Report, “I have one word to describe Koolulam: unbelievable! As a matric [Grade 12] student entering my final stretch of school, I found such inspiration in the words of the song. Being surrounded by my fellow Davidians for the last time, I felt immense pride in the school and the South African Jewish community as a whole. It was a timely reminder that in spite of leaving the school, I’ll always have a community here in South Africa united in spite of our differences.”

A participant, Lindi Giger Rudnicki, said on Facebook, “A once in a lifetime experience! Absolutely phenomenal.”

Sisters Tali and Danielle Ogus said, “We loved every second of it. The vibe was so powerful, and there was so much unity between everyone.”

Teicher said the aim of Koolulam was to “bring people together to do one thing: stop everything for a few hours, and just sing, together. To feel pain, to feel joy, to unite, and come together – that is what we are about.”

A video of the event will be released online shortly.