“It was like a Goa football team being invited to play at La Liga with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid… you know. We told them we’re not as big as those; they said it doesn’t matter, you’re good enough.”
Santiago Lusardi Girelli hails from Spain and the maestro’s choice of simile for the Goa University choir’s most recent feat is on the ball—the sevenyear- old varsity choral group is among six choirs from across the world featured in the re-release of the soul-stirring hymn, Amazing Grace.
Led by Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter Judy Collins, the 4.51-minute long online video features some of the world’s best choral ensembles—UK’s The Sixteen, South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir, and the New York Choral Society—performing their individual parts from their own homes. The Goa university choir—35 voices join in for the 3rd and 5th verses— is the only one from India and represents Asia together with a choir from the Philippines.
Collins’ effort through this Global
Virtual Choir performing her rendition
of the solemn song—part of her Whales
& Nightingales album that completes
50 years in August—is to raise money
for the World Health Organisation’s
Solidarity Response Fund in view of the
ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Recalling the invitation he received
about three weeks ago, Girelli, visiting
research professor for western music at
the Goa University, says, “After this lady
from Warner Music (Group) told me what
they wanted I asked her how she knew
about us and she said she had seen our
work and was impressed.”
That impressive work includes an
album, several concerts, including in
Bengaluru and at Mumbai’s acclaimed
National Centre for Performing Arts
with the Symphony Orchestra of India,
and organizing and performing at Goa’s
critically-acclaimed Ketevan Music
Festival at Old Goa.
“Last year we did 14 concerts
(including original pieces performed
for the vice president of India and the
Dalai Lama) and attracted an audience of
over 5,000 people,” says the 40-yearold
former co-conductor at Spain’s
500-year-old Seville University, who has
been based at the Goa varsity campus
full time only since 2018.
The father of two is known to be very
hard-working, friendly and energetic
by his choir members, whose numbers
range from 30 to 55 and include
students as well as Goans of all ages,
walks of life, and from across the state.
In fact, before the lockdown, one
enthusiast, travelling by local transport,
would change buses frequently to make
it to the thrice-weekly rehearsals at the
Taleigao plateau from Quepem almost
44km away.
Missing the bonding of the group
rehearsals, especially when dealing
with the overwhelming invite to sing
with Collins, Karen Fernandes, an alto
voice, says she took “quite a few takes”
before she was satisfied enough to
send in her video. “I’m really hoping
things change and we have regular
sessions again. I miss the face-to-face
interaction, especially learning directly
from the maestro,” says the 27-year-old
commerce lecturer, who’s been with the
choir since her days as a varsity student.
Ariedon Gomes, a tenor, says his
recording of the video was “challenging
but interesting”. “One needs a quiet
environment, which was not available at
home given the sound of birds, horns,
running tap water, neighbourhood
children playing… Finding a good
background with natural light was
another aspect. It was all a learning
experience. The individual learning
helped me understand my singing
quality and I feel there is certainly a need
for improvement.”
Bina Datwani, for whom “singing is
like meditation” compares the choir to
a joint family with every member having
their own distinct personality. The
recording for Amazing Grace wasn’t all
that hard, says the Nerul resident, given
that “we had recently recorded our own
virtual choir”.
Girelli’s composition ‘My life is my
message’, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s
works, is expected to be released online
in a few days, while a live streaming
of the GU choir performing—social
distancing and masks in place—for UK’s
Lancaster University’s online festival is
scheduled for June 25.
Of these projects the maestro says, “In
this lockdown period it’s easy to practice
music and enhance one’s skills through
online classes, but to really make music
is a challenge and the world over
musicians, especially choir ensembles,
are coming up with creative ways to
keep their enthusiasm for music alive.”
Gomes sums up the passion in the
choir when he says, “Our work in the
group is non-profitable but still we have
survived this far simply because we do
music and that could be our religion
too.”
