South Africans are beaming with pride yet again after the Mzansi Youth Choir ALSO made history by receiving an audience Golden Buzzer, this time on the 18th season of America’s Got Talent! 

This after amputee dancer Musa Motha made history on the cross-atlantic version of the hit show, for the first ever joint Golden Buzzer on Britain’s Got Talent.

RELATED: WATCH: SA’s Musa Motha through to BGT’s Grand Final!

Mzansi Youth Choir were the final act of the night during the audition round of the 18th season, which premiered on 30 May 2023.

The group surprised the judges by performing “It’s OK,” a song written and originally performed by former contestant Nightbirde (Jane Kristen Marczewski) who passed away from cancer in 2022.

The choir told the judges they were so inspired by Nightbirde’s story, and her song “It’s Ok” that they chose to cover it.

The song has been such a pillar of strength for the choir, we have used it during difficult times, so when we got the opportunity to go to America’s Got Talent we knew it was the song for us.

The beautiful tribute left everyone emotional, and for the first time in AGT history the Golden Buzzer was awarded by the audience!

All the judges were left stunned, with Simon, holding back emotion, saying that the performance brought back a lot of memories for him and said that seeing them perform it would have meant a lot to Nightbirde.

He called their tribute “breathtaking.”

Amidst chants from the audience for Simon to hit the Golden Buzzer, Simon said that “we’ve never done this before, but we’ve always discussed one day giving the audience something.”

In that moment, the judges all turned around to face a roaring audience who stood to resume their chants of “golden buzzer.”

Terry rushed to join the judges as Simon declared, pointing to the choir and then to the audience: ”This is for you. This is for you. This is for Jane,” and together they all let the golden confetti rain down on Mzansi Youth Choir!

WATCH the breathtaking performance here:

The Mzansi Youth Choir was established in 2003 with the aim of affording talented, underprivileged teenagers and young adults the opportunity to proficiently perform locally and abroad.

They have performed during numerous prestigious occasions both locally and abroad since then.

• During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the choir shared the stage with Columbian superstar Shakira and local band Freshly Ground for the performance of the official World Cup song ‘WakaWaka’ at the Kick-Off Concert as well as the World Cup Final.
• International highlights include tours of Canada 2011 and 2018, Denmark, Egypt, England, Scotland, Turkey and Russia (Moscow and St Petersburg).
• In April 2017 the choir performed at the International Youth Choir Festival at the Royal Albert Hall and in the Royal Festival Hall in London. The Mzansi Youth Choir was the only choir from the African continent to be selected to perform at the Royal Albert Hall and the only choir to receive a standing ovation.
• During 2018 the choir opened the concert with the Nigerian superstar D’Banj and closed the Global Citizen Concert with a stunning performance with world megastar Beyoncé in a packed FNB Stadium. This performance was broadcast to 180 countries across six continents.
• In 2020 the choir won the first ever virtual World Choir Games with a heart-warming rendition of “A Million Dreams” – a video compilation of all choristers singing in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nominated for Hollywood in Music Awards “Independent Music Video Category” with Wouter Kellerman for The Climb.
• In 2021 they released videos with Nigerian Afropop singer, Yemi Allade (Rain), multi-award-winning South African musician, Samthing Soweto (Danko) as well as PJ Powers (Bayete Mzansi).
• And in 2022 they performed “Umuzi Wethu” (song in the closing credits for the award-winning documentary titled ‘Land of the Free’), which won the 20th Annual Garden State Film Festival Movie Music Competition in New Jersey, USA.
• They also released a video with Grammy Award-winning South African flautist, Wouter Kellerman last year.