Although the show is called America’s Got Talent, the truth is that it’s much more of an international talent show.
After all, America is the world’s biggest exporter of intellectual property—and that means movies, music, TV shows and all kinds of talented performers.
Though there are plenty of regional pathways to success in media all over the world, many international citizens who want to make it in entertainment end up traveling to America to perform for audiences there, all in an effort to boost their visibility.
At least, that exactly what this group of performers did.
The audition we’re talking about happened in the show’s 2019 season.
As it begins, a huge group of people walks out on stage in traditional South African clothing and the judges are a little bit surprised. They all move to center stage and get in rows, forming a choir.
When everyone is assembled, the judges ask who they are. They reply that they’re the Ndlovu Youth Choir from Limpopo, South Africa! As the conductor explains, the group has been together for 10 years.
As one of the performers says, it is his first time in America—and being there is a dream come true!
Still, he explains that making it onto the show was a long journey.
He says that in Limpopo there is a lot of poverty and often no running water and no electricity. The challenges that they face are innumerable. As all the choir members explain, sometimes personal struggles get in the way as well—including one member whose father passed away.
To respond to all these hardships, all the performers got together to form the Ndlovu Youth Choir as a kind of family and support group against all the difficulties.
Needless to say, all their efforts and spiritual strength paid off!
The entire backstory is enough to bring anyone to tears before they even start performing.
Finally, they explain that the song they’re singing is “My African Dream,” originally performed by Vicky Sampson—and that the message is that kids around the world don’t have to be limited because they were born in poverty!
Finally, the crowd claps and they clear the way for the choir to perform. As they sing, their voices soar and their harmonies are beautiful and uplifting! As they sing, they also dance and perform as well!
Before long, the whole crowd is on their feet to clap and dance along with them.
When it’s finally over, one of the vocalists does a solo to finish things out—and the crowd erupts with applause.
At last, it’s time for the judges to give their feedback. As they go down the line, everyone says that the performance moved them and the whole crowd. Everyone was grateful that they traveled so far to share their culture, and that their story to making it on the show was inspiring as well.
At the very end, judge Simon Cowell says that the show has been waiting for a choir audition like theirs—one that everyone would remember and who did something different. Needless to say, they got four yeses!
Congratulations to the Ndlovu Youth Choir on their amazing performance! Watch the full thing in the clip below:
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