The Jubilee Singers
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
An African-American group (also called the Virginia Jubilee Singers), who visited South Africa in the 1890s with the impresario Orpheus. Their tour began in Scotland where Orpheus met Lady Loch, the wife of the then British Governor of the Cape, who invited them to Cape Town.
The Jubilee Singers became an unlikely overnight sensation in the Cape and are credited with shaping the performance style adopted by Cape Coon Carnival tradition.
In 2014 David Kramer wrote a musical based on this incident called Orpheus in Africa. It was first produced by Eric Abraham and the Fugard Theatre in January 2015.
