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Zulu's 'Tip-Toe' Choir Competition

Every Saturday night in a gritty YMCA in the South African city of Durban, men put on finely-pressed suits, drink cheap beer and compete in an a cappella Zulu choir competition called isicathamiya. They're sometimes called the "tip-toe guys". Isicathamiya means "in a stalking mood" and it refers to the slow deliberate dance moves the men do in unison while harmonizing. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.

Copyright 2004 NPR

Jason Beaubien
Jason Beaubien is a Peabody award-winning journalist. He's filed stories from more than 60 countries around the world. His reporting tends to focus on issues in lower-income countries. Often his reports highlight inequities, injustices and abuses of power. He also regularly writes about natural disasters, wars and human conflict. Over the last two decades he's covered hurricanes in the Caribbean, typhoons in the Philippines, multiple earthquakes in Haiti, the Arab Spring, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the drug war in Mexico.