A small group of very different old Thomians came together fourteen years ago, "not by design, but by chance."
Their shared love and passion for singing is what brought them together; it is what kept them together, and is what has now brought them international success. The Revelations began their dream on a small scale, but having emerged first in Asia in the Gospel music Category at the Asian Choir Games held in Jakarta, it was quite clear that their success was not to be on a small scale.
With the success at the Asian Choir Games fresh in their minds, the members of the revelations decided that they wanted to compete on a different level – that of the World Choir Games which were held in Graz, Austria in July.
With all the fun times they had in Austria – there were also moments of utter panic and near trauma. "One of the incidents was Ishan losing his voice two days before one of the competitions," said Sanjeev Jayaratnam, the Choir Leader and Conductor of The Revelations. "He could barely talk, and we were extremely nervous, as the upcoming competition was the male vocal ensemble where eight of us were singing and our songs were in eight part harmony. Thankfully, Ishan regained around 80% of his voice for the competition but after singing, he lost it again!"
Despite the setback, the choir remained confident and optimistic, constantly practising on the veranda of the little inn at which they stayed, with the support of their friendly innkeeper Sylvia who would readily keep them topped up on hot water to preserve their voices.
It all paid off when they won three gold medals in the categories they participated in, in addition to emerging as world champions in two of these categories – the Male Vocal Ensemble and the Gospel and Spiritual category.
"There is a clear difference between winning a gold medal and emerging as champions of a category," stated Sanjeev. "
Any choir that gets over 80 points for their performance will get a gold medal. But it's the choir that gets the highest marks out of the choirs with over 80 points, that becomes the champions."
The songs they sang were mainly by composers and arrangers from the US. "Three of the songs we sang at the competition with which we won the categories were arranged by me. Two were gospel numbers and one was a song by Piyal Perera of the Gypsies, “Venvela Giyath”, which I arranged for male voices with permission," explained Sanjeev.
"We beat The Manado State University Choir from Indonesia, ranked 2nd in the Gospel, Pop and Jazz category and overall ranked #12th in the World. We also beat The Crenshaw Elite Choir from the USA, ranked 7th in Gospel, Pop & Jazz, and overall ranked #75th in the World. The Revelations (prior to the Games in July) were ranked 9th in Gospel, Pop & Jazz and 94th overall."
In celebration of their resounding success at the games, The Revelations present their upcoming performance – We are the Champions – Revelations in Concert – to be held on August 18 at The Cinnamon Grand at 7 30 pm.
The concert, in its one and a half hour duration, will feature the same repertoire as was performed at the games. "We will also perform a few new numbers as well as a couple of surprises," smiles Sanjeev.
Tickets priced at Rs. 750, 1000 and 1500 will be available at The Cinnamon Grand, The Commons, The Bay Leaf and at The Autodrome at Union Place. Dinner will be available after the concert. |
E-mail