With only a few hours to go before the Church bells ring, people all around India are readying themselves for the celebrations. There are many things that make Christmas such a special occasion in India. Though only 2.3% of Indian population belong to Christian community, yet Christmas is celebrated in India with much fervour. One of the things that make this day so special is carols sung by the choir groups. Singing carols on the Christmas eve have been popular since the Medieval ages, but nowadays the groups are more experimental in their approach. While some groups are including contemporary versions of the old carols, others are Indianizing the songs. As choir groups gear up for their performances on the Christmas Eve, we take a look at some of them.
  • Delhi: The capital of India has its own choir circuit. The oldest among the choir groups is Delhi Christian Chorus, which was formed some 50 years ago. The group performs everything from Mozart and Bach compositions to old Hindi songs. Another prominent choir group is Capital City Minstrels (formed in 1994), which has diplomats, foreigners and senior executives of MNCs as their members. Gabriella Boda-Rechner, director of choir groups all over Europe, is in charge of all the performances.
  • Chennai: St. Thomas Orthodox Cathedral Choir is the most famous choir group down south. This group was founded by Jacob John, who was A. R. Rahman’s piano teacher. The group sings carols in Malayalam. Each year, the group tries to come up with two new carols in Malayalam, which have a blend of European and Carnatic music. Another famous choir group is Handel Manuel Chorus, formed in memory of Handel Manuel who was a pianist, composer and conductor of world repute. The group specializes in church music from classical and the Baroque period.
  • Mumbai: Powai’s Holy Trinity Church Choir has a unique way of performing; all the singers from the group hold solar lanterns to give the listeners a green message. In Pune, the Bel Canto Choir also have some surprise up their sleeves. They sang “Santa Santa” on the tune of Abba’s hit number “Honey honey” and have been incorporating such classic tunes to choir songs.
  • Kolkata: There are not too many choir groups in the City of Joy. The only group of repute is the St. Paul’s Cathedral choir. But, the void is filled up by groups from North Bengal where the choir culture is still at large. The reputed groups from the hills are Dr Graham’s Homes School Choir (from Kalimpong) and St Paul’s School (from Darjeeling). Though, choir groups are very traditional in this part of India and experimentation is seldom seen.
Christmas would never be complete without the soothing carols. And it takes months of rehearsals for most groups to give their best performance on the Christmas eve.