Review: History of House at The Rechabite
History of House at The Rechabite
Thursday, January 30, 2025
The Soweto Gospel Choir is arguably the best, and certainly the best-known gospel choir in the world. They are famous for their blend of South African and American civil rights era spiritual and protest songs. They are beloved for the power of their voices and their ability to uplift with songs of praise and righteousness. However, when they team up with Australian DJ Groove Terminator, they use all that power to let loose and have fun.
Fun was what was served in the main hall of the Rechabite when the Soweto Gospel Choir appeared with Groove Terminator, their longtime collaborator. History of House is a journey through house music and the influences that preceded it, with Groove Terminator playing the instrumental tracks and the Soweto Gospel Choir providing all of the vocals.
History of House
The first group of songs of the night featured some of the genre’s biggest 90s bangers, like Good Vibrations, The Weekend, and Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless). It was a few songs into the evening when they got to Show Me Love that the singers started to really dance, with a mix of choreography and freestyle. Decked out in matching “History of House” t-shirts instead of the brightly patterned traditional South African costumes they usually wear on stage, they were clearly having a great time.
After the initial burst of 90s hits and throughout the evening while the singers took much-needed water breaks, Groove Terminator gave the audience a lesson in the history of house music. He began with a block of 70s disco songs like Le Freak and I Feel Love, which show a clear lead-up to the dance music that came after and were enhanced not only by the choir’s voices, with featured singers for each song, but also by the introduction of African drumming in the mix. Then came the 80s, with songs like Blue Monday, Like a Prayer, and I Wanna Dance With Somebody whipping the dance floor into sweaty singalongs.
History of House
Groove Terminator then spoke about legendary DJ and producer Frankie Knuckles and the birth of house music at his warehouse parties in Chicago. He stressed the inclusive nature of the early house scene, where everyone was welcome, before getting into hits from their 2024 History of House album like You Got the Love and Ride Like the Wind. In the last section, the singers increased the intensity with songs in multiple African languages, more drumming, and dancing that matched the music’s joy and abandon.
The Soweto Gospel Choir is an insanely talented group of singers, and in this show they turn their talents to celebrating dance music that they clearly love to perform. Their enjoyment was infectious and mixed with Groove Terminator’s beats, had the whole audience dancing for the entire 90 minutes. The power of twenty singers in harmony singing about love over iconic instrumentals elevated the evening above simple appreciation of house classics. This was a blend of Chicago and Johannesburg celebrating inclusivity, love and classic beats, and was an embodiment of the idea of music as a universal language.
SAMANTHA ROSENFELD
