Hope

Soweto Gospel Choir have hit on a winning formula that has brought them three Grammys and performances before president Obama and Oprah Winfrey. The starting point is harmony singing, which is one of the glories of the South African music scene, as anyone who has witnessed a church service in the country – or been to a Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert – will know. But to this they add in a heavy dollop of pop nostalgia, surely aimed at Western audiences, with slick choral treatment of anything from American soul and gospel classics through to pop weepies.

It mostly works, simply because there are fine soloists in this often exhilarating choir, but it's an odd mix. The selection this time round includes a slick, driving treatment of the Staple Singers’ ‘I’ll Take You There’, Stevie Wonder's ‘Heaven Help Us All’, and an elaborate re-working of Sam Cooke's ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ – all classily performed but without the emotional impact of the originals. And there's one real curiosity – a keyboard-backed treatment of Mike + The Mechanics 1988 hit, ‘The Living Years’. They are far better when they get back to African basics, as on the no-nonsense, unaccompanied Xhosa hymn ‘Bawo Xa Ndlahlekayo’.