Spent Force
They call themselves Spent Force, the last remaining members of two once-vibrant musical ensembles. But the story stretches all the way back to the 1970s when three doctors, Kalyan Subramanyam, Samuel Grubb and Ravi Santosham; an aeronautical engineer, Allan Sathyadev; and a full-time musician Tony Davids, came together to form the GATT Quintet. The ensemble took the world by a storm, travelling and performing widely over the next 40-odd years. “We have performed for the Pope, at the Sydney Opera House for the Sydney Olympics; the Grand Opera House in Wilmington for the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival; at Chicago for the Gospel Choir Festival…,” says Santosham, adding however, that the quintet soon dwindled to two, as its members moved away from Chennai. Additionally, there was the Male Voice Ensemble, an extension of the GATT Quintet that faced a similar issue over time.
So, the remaining members of both GATT and Male Voice got together, to form Spent Force, comprising Augustine Paul, Ebenezer Arun Kumar, Tony James Davids, Billy John Robinson and Santosham himself. “We are a casual group, it’s more fun than anything else,” says Santosham, who often introduces his group to its audience as four conductors and a driver, “since all the other members except me are conductors of other established choirs too,” he laughs.
Octet Cantabile
It was the music of The Swingle Singers, the Paris and then London-based vocal group that inspired the formation of the Octet Cantabile. “I was part of the Male Voice Ensemble, one of the best-known male voice choral groups in Chennai,” says the ensemble’s leader Augustine Paul. But, as the group reduced in size, as its members moved away, he decided to start another mixed-voice one in 1994, along the lines of The Swingle Singers with, “two bass voices, two sopranos, two altos and two tenors.”
Their repertoire is eclectic, ranging from the music of Bach, Mendelssohn and Mozart — even a mass by a Renaissance Spanish composer, Padilla — to gospel, rock and reggae. “We try to please everyone and choose songs depending on the programme,” says Paul, who says that the group comprises of highly experienced musicians.
Five of the original eight still sing with the Cantabile, while three members are more recent additions. “We started travelling with our music from 2006,” he says, adding that the group gathers on Thursday evenings to practise.
El Fe
The word El Fe means faith in Spanish, says the group’s conductor Maria Roe Vincent, explaining the name. “There are 15 of us coming from different faiths, but the one thing we have in common is our music,” says the young singer, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Boston.
The ensemble, which has been singing together for the last six years, is heavily influenced by the African-American Gospel style of singing. Additionally, they have been featured in a number of Tamil movies, says Vincent. “We have worked for all the top music directors in the Tamil Industry, including ARR, Harris Jayaraj, Anirudh, Yuvan Shankar Raja…”
What really works in their favour is that they are, “extremely fast, efficient and unique”, says Vincent, adding that at the end of the day, “we just want to have fun with all our songs and travel the world with our music.”
North East Christian
Fellowship Choir
As the name suggests, the choir brings together people from the Northeastern states of India, who are studying in Madras Christian College. “The aim of the fellowship was to bring people of the North East together to Christ,” says Valarishisha Kharshiing, a member of the choir.
The choir not only sings songs from different choral composers such as Pepper Choplin and George Frederick Handel, but also the music of their own home states. “We always sing for our annual Christmas charity concert ‘Messaiah’, held on the first Sunday of December, which is usually in aid of some organisation. Then, we also have another programme called General Assembly, where all the different Northeast fellowships in and around Chennai come together for a joint fellowship,” she says.
Over the last nine years, the choir has grown exponentially, from less than 20 members to over 70. “The choir was started under the leadership of Lalsangliana Ralte, who was the main founder and then became the choir master,” she says, adding that Ralte was at the helm till last year, when he left for his home town. He has been replaced by Joseph Lalmawizuala.
On future plans, “We want to continue serving God through this fellowship and especially by giving a helping hand/support to those who are in need through our singing.”
