You know it’s Christmas when the strains of carols reach your ears and add that extra cheer to the festive season. Pass by any church in the city or a home being visited by carol singers and you will know what we mean. Church choirs in the city have had a busy month; one filled with practice, carol competitions and door to door carol singing before the grand culmination today as scores of Christian families come together to celebrate.
A little magicLike Rock singer Marilyn Manson famously said, “Music is the strongest form of magic,” choirs in the city have been busy spreading a little bit of magic themselves. Right from some of the oldest choirs in the city that perform with brass sets and formal choir attires to some of the newer ones that go out on an extra limb to reinvent traditional carols while retaining the original flavours, there’s something for everyone this festive season.
The 45-member choir at the Centenary Methodist Church on Chapel Road has been practising for as long as three months for the whole month of carol singing, Christmas events and Christmas Day service at the church. According to Ananta Kumar Mondal, the choir director, the church boasts of having one of the oldest choirs in the city. “Our church has had a choir for nearly 100 years now, though the full-fledged one with a choir conductor has been around for 60 years. The current one has members across age groups. We normally begin practising for Christmas three months in advance and the entire festive season is filled with door-to-door carolling, Carol Sunday and a special event on Christmas Day. At the recent Carol Sunday we saw a huge turnout and we performed some old and new carols before rounding it off with Mozart’s ‘Glorious is Thy Name’,” he says.
For Divya Joseph, choir director at the Holy Trinity Church, back-to-back carolling sessions and carol competitions might be hectic, but they are also filled with pure joy. “Music to me is very personal. I think it’s a blessing that we are able to share this joy with others. This past month of carolling has been very enriching for our choir group. We’ve been practising a lot and have had a great time. At the same time it’s been an eye-opener of sorts; not every family we’ve visited has the same luxuries as others. Despite that they are happy and cheerful and it taught us to be happy with what we have,” she says, adding that the choir has been meeting for regular practice sessions since the beginning of November.
While nothing spells Christmas like some good old carols celebrating the spirit of the festive season, Sounds of The Nation of Pearl City Church, prefer to reinvent the traditional numbers and add a more contemporary touch. “We’ve been more passionate about keeping the sound of India alive while also keeping the sound fresh and relevant. We’re passionate about bringing out the sound of the church which is why we sing traditional carols with a new twist to make them sound more contemporary. Our sound is not classical, it is more contemporary and edgy with us using a lot of acapella,” says Allen Ganta, music director at Pearl City. He goes on to add that the group began practising seven weeks earlier and had several smaller events including a carol mash-up at the Indo American Cancer Hospital as a lead up to a special event that was held on Christmas Eve at the Church.
But it hasn’t been only about music for choirs this year. They have also made a concerted effort to do their bit for society this festive season. With most of them conducting ‘Blanket Drives’ for the homeless, community clean-up drives, spending time with the elderly and children at old age homes and orphanages etc.
As Allen succinctly puts it, “Music and community go hand in hand. This season has been focussed on community for us.”
