Dressed in their Sunday best — the ladies in pretty red and the gentlemen in dark suits and red ties — they stand smart in rows as they sing “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound ...” and a few other hymns in between the readings and prayers at church. One of them at the front plays the keyboard and another the guitar. The lead singer has their back to them as she faces the rest of the choir.

It is Christmas time so one also gets to listen to a few carols such as the beautiful “Silent night, holy night ...” You cannot help yourself as the notes beckon you to join in the chorus.

“Like Muslims recite the hamd in praise of God Almighty and naat in praise of the holy Prophet of Islam [Peace be upon him], Christians sing hymns that are in praise of God and carols that celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ,” explains Yvette Franklin, who leads the Christ the King Church choir in which her son Reubin plays the guitar.

The angelic voices of church choirs lend support in times of joy as well as grief

The joyous season has prompted a nice turnout of the choir singers. “Otherwise, sometimes we even manage with two or three,” Franklin smiles. The choir has both young and old singers. “There is a grandmother who comes with her nine-year-old grandson. My son, too, used to accompany me to choir practice and church-singing when he was little. I also taught him how to play the guitar and now he plays it better than I do. Starting with us, now he also plays with a band,” she says.

Dr Delvene Soares, a general surgeon by profession, who is the choir leader at St Anthony’s Church, says that her grandmother and father have also been choir leaders. “Thanks to them, I had some background knowledge about music,” she smiles, adding that church choir singing is voluntary. “You just join if you want to sing and you must want to sing if you like music and have a good voice,” she says, adding that the choir turns no one away, even if they fail an audition. They are just encouraged to practice more and come back to try again.

At the St Patrick’s Cathedral, Jessica Miranda, the lead singer in the senior choir says that she has been singing with the parish for almost 25 years now. “We sing in the church during mass, we sing during funerals here too and weddings as well,” she says. Their choir, like several other church choirs, is not particularly restricted to the church. “We are also invited to sing at functions, like at five-star hotels, during Christmas time.”

About what they do for their voices to sound so soft and sweet, she smiles and shrugs. “I guess, practice makes perfect. We practice a lot. Like one to two hours on regular weekdays and even double that time during High Mass around Christmas and Easter season.”

Meanwhile, there is young Selwyn Fernandes, helping the parish’s junior choir practice, with the rector of the church Father Mario Rodrigues watching the little ones learn about the four basic tones — melody, baritone, tenor and alto. Fernandes joined the senior choir at age 16. “Yes, I know that it can be rather challenging for boys at that age to sing as their voices are undergoing a change and cracking but the senior choir has older kids usually, as commitment can be an issue if they are still in school,” he says. He learnt to play various instruments while singing in the choir. “Everyone is multi-talented and we help teach each other,” he says.

Riaz Bashir, the leader for the St Anthony’s Church Urdu choir, says that he also plays the tabla, which is unique for a church choir. “There are keyboard players and guitar players but I play the tabla,” he says.

About their Urdu hymns and carols, Bashir says that they are just translations of English hymns and carols. “As for words such as ‘Hallelujah’, we just say ‘Hallelujah.’ We don’t translate each and every word so as not to lose the feeling, as the role of the choir is to sing in connection to the subject and message of the scripture readings,” he says.

The popular carols such as ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Frosty the Snowman’, etc., are what you never get to hear in the church even on Christmas eve. “That’s because, however joyful or cheerful, they are not liturgical in nature and not really meant for church. We sing those at parties, functions and carnivals,” says Brendon Emmanuel, the choir leader at St Laurence’s Church. “In church, be more prepared to hear ‘Joy to the world, the Lord has come...’”

The writer is a member of staff
She tweets @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 23rd, 2018