Santa has never looked as much like a rockstar as he did at Madras Christian College Matric Higher Secondary School Choir’s performance, bouncing his rotund self around the 70 x 30 feet mammoth stage, wishing a Merry Christmas to the choir’s screaming supporters.
With that, the choir kicked off Day 2 of the MCC Alumni Carol Concert at their school grounds in Chetpet. Choirs from around the city — whether part of colleges, schools or individual — came together to bring in the Christmas cheer at the pleasantly windy grounds. This two-day festival saw performances by the Madras Christian College Choir, MMA Brass Ensemble, Organized Chaos, WCC Choir; Bella Voci, North East Christian Fellowship Choir, Stella Maris Choir, and more.
The annual concert started 22 years ago as an excuse for the MCC alumni to meet. “We started it off to bring the alumni together because it is very difficult for them to go to Tambaram (where the college is),” says pulmonologist Dr Ravi Santhosham, vice-president of the MCC Alumni Association, who is himself a member of the GATT Quintet.
“We would get all choirs together, and meet for an evening of music. but within two or three years, it started gaining momentum. Now it is such a big show, we need to spread it across two days, we may even need to go for three in the coming years,” he says.
The veritable list of choirs that performed this year included Organised Chaos, India’s first barbershop quartet. “They were invited to Nashville to train in the Belmont University. They also sang in the Barbershop convention in Nashville,” informs Dr Santosham.
The Octet Cantabile rendered Christmas Everywhere with a joie de vivre that was infectious. St Thomas Orthodox Cathedral Choir, led by Jerry Amaldev, performed original compositions in Malayalam. Dressed in all white, the choir got the audience to peacefully look inward with their ‘Raja Rajan Yesu Nathan’, a trademark mix of Carnatic and traditional Christian music. Celestial Voices, on the other hand, took the listeners down memory line with ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai.’
It is for good reason that the event has come to be known as the city’s largest open-air Christmas Concert. The attendees spilled well out of the seating area, some standing with babies cradled in their arms, either singing along or looking on proudly. A chair left unattended was sure to get occupied by someone waiting in the fringes.
The singing was punctuated by horns of trains whistling tangentially past the grounds, towards the Chetpet railway station. It has been this way for the past two decades, says Dr Santhosham, except only three years: “The year we had the floods, the year of the Vardha, and once when it rained too much.” The train’s horns have become a part of the environment. “Sometimes, the drivers toot on purpose, looking at our lights.”
