Old pump organs and beetles – but singing lifts the soul

By Alistair Findlay

Tony and Jemima Cantrell are long-standing members in the Johannesburg Bach Choir, having joined in 2005, when it was still under the directorship of Mario Broccardo. They both come from musical and artistic families.

Jemima’s grandfather’s violin narrowly escaped being incinerated in the burning of their farm during the Anglo Boer war. Her parents sang in the church choir and many in the family were piano teachers. As a schoolgirl she came first in many an Eisteddfod with her singing. She also took piano lessons. Piano exams were through UNISA and examiners had to travel from Bloemfontein to Postmasburg to do the assessments at their family home. Work-wise she established herself in the field of medical research from where she would often nip off during her lunch hour for singing lessons. In 1967 she took two years off to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich under Professor Dr Karlheinz Blaschke. She also sang in the Munich Bach Choir under Professor Karl Richter. On her return she joined the SABC choir and had a chorus part in the PACT production of The Merry Widow.

Tony’s grandmother played the harmonium, a portable pump organ much in use in those days. She accompanied her husband on missionary work in the then South West Africa (now Namibia). They travelled by railway caboose to small towns where she would attract residents with the sound of her playing, forming congregations for their mobile ministry. Tony sang in both the Kearsney College and the University of Natal’s Maritzburg campus choirs. On meeting Jemima, they became members of their church choir. Tony is a trained biochemist and was Professor in Toxicology at the University of the Witwatersrand. It was his head of department, the late Professor Tony Davies, who suggested the couple join him in the Bach Choir.

According to Jemima, the Bach Choir today is in better shape than ever, with Tim Roberts and Ruth Coggin at the helm. “I have a passion for singing and singing together with other people lifts the soul,” she says.

Tony and Jemima’s other pastimes include painting, birding and beetle collecting. Jemima showed me an exquisite water colour of a pineapple she had done. “Beautiful pawpaw,” quipped Tony. But he couldn’t show me his beetle collection. It had been eaten by very small beetles.

• Alistair Findlay is leader of the bass section of the Johannesburg Bach Choir