Johannesburg, South Africa – Tuesday, 6 April 2021 Joyous Celebration officially launched Joyous Celebration 25: Still We Rise with an intimate media launch at the Joburg Theatre on Thursday, 1 April 2021. The media launch was fronted by long-time sponsor, MTN with Joyous alumnus and their new home, Universal Music Africa.
The launch was auspicious as it marked the first media blitz of this nature held by the leading choral group in Africa since Joyous Celebration 23: Live at the CTICC Cape Town. The spectacle was a two-hour special set, performed ahead of the choir’s first live performance of the album in the presence of the public with former members Puleng March and Ncebakazi Msomi in attendance for the media facing event.
Following the media launch, the choral group officially launched the COVID-19 conscious tour with a four-hour performance on Friday, 2 April 2021 by returning to the Joburg Theatre. The official tour launch marked the return of senior choir member and fan-favourite, Sbu Noah. Noah does not appear in the DVD recording of Joyous Celebration 25 as he was attending personal matters following the untimely passing of his mother.
The celebrated gospel leaders also announced that their 25th project, Still We Rise: Live at the Joburg Theatre is now live across all music stores, with a deluxe live experience consisting
of a 16-track listening experience, which is supported with an accompanying visual album consisting of extended versions of all 16 praise and worships hymns.
While the audio/visual album will only live on Apple music, Joyous is committed to releasing weekly videos every Friday until all the videos are available via Vevo on YouTube.
Some notable key highlights from the album since release.
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- First for Joyous Celebration is the release of the audio/visual Deluxe album, today on Apple Music Find It Here
- Another first is the radio focus song, Ndenzel’ Uncedo Hymn 377 entered the radio RAMS chart at #17 a week after release.
- The song was #1 on Apple Music on day of release and supported by key stations
- On Twitter, video was shared of a group of school children singing Ndenzel’ Uncedo Hymn 377 with some great feedback from fans
- The hashtag #JC25StillWeRise trended in South Africa on the weekend after we released the album
- On YouTube, the release of the first video hit over 400K views after two weeks of release and continues to grow
- The news of the signing of Joyous Celebration to Universal Music & Motown Gospel received great coverage across the continent.
