In 2018, when visiting the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, choreographer Gregory Maqoma came across the multimedia installation The African Choir 1891 Re-imagined (2017).
Created by composers Thuthuka Sibisi and Philip Miller and curated by Renee Mussai, the installation tells the story of group of South African singers who toured Britain, Canada and America between 1891 and 1893, raising money for a missionary school back home.
Moved by the work, Maqoma reached out to Sibisi and the pair decided to collaborate. The result was Broken Chord, another performance piece that tells the story of this group of singers, this time focusing on a recital they performed to the Queen Victoria in 1891.
