WAYNE MULLER
It’s been announced that South African opera star Pretty Yende will sing at King Charles III’s coronation on 6 May in Westminster Abbey, London. The 37-year-old soprano was elated.
The invitation is reminiscent of when Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales were married in 1981. For this occasion, the New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa’s beautiful voice beguiled the royal couple. Te Kanawa, being Maori, represented her indigenous community who were the victims of imperialism and colonialism.
Te Kanawa was the same age as Yende is when she gave her royal performance and Yende carries with her this colonial history too.
Considering the previous British coronation was that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, with white males dominating the music programme, it will now, to the best of my knowledge, be the first time that a black person – let alone an African – performs at the coronation of a British monarch.
However, along with the
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