A musical about the Cape Coloured people of south Africa. A story that is timeless and crosses political and geographical boundaries to other nations around the world.

Running Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

In 1997 Kibbbutz El - Shammah produced the musical I Long To Sing. A story of the Cape Coloured people of South Africa and specifically the people of Roodewal, where Kibbutz El-Shammah is situated today. For three years cast members from the Roodewal community toured locally, nationally and internationally singing the story of their heritage.

European settlers arrived in Southern Africa in the 17th Century, bringing with them slaves from Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar and various African countries.

The indigenous people were also forced into a form of slavery, working the land for mere payment of brandy, tobacco or wine. As the Colony developed, so too was a new nation born - the Cape Coloureds of South Africa.

For two hundred years, the Cape Coloureds suffered shackles of slavery until the emancipation of slaves. Although there was freedom, scars and stripes remained. Dignity had been stripped, identity lost and families broken. Barely a hundred years of emancipation had passed when new shackles were placed upon them - Shackles of Apartheid.

Broken Shackles portrays the history of the Cape Coloureds from the slave days under Colonialism, through the slavery of Apartheid, to slavery of drugs, gangs and alcohol. These shackles have kept the Cape Coloureds in bondage, but the keys to unleash the shackles are in the choices that they now make.

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