We sing because we love to sing. We sing the music that we like to listen to. We sing together because it's a great opportunity to meet up and socialize with the kids that we grew up with. We strive to put on a good show because we love our audience and because it gives us a sense of achievement," says Eshantha Peiris, of the Old Joes Choir (OJC) in a nut-shell!
Celebrating their 10 year anniversary as an all-male choral group, the OJC presents Timeless Echoes – The Highlights of a Decade Long Musical Journey, at 7.30pm, on August 30 & 31, at the British School Auditorium.
The three young maestro directors, Eshantha, Geethika Cooray and Migara Luvis share their individual take on the OJC, their input and the OJC journey over the years...
"Geethika and Migara are handling the bulk of the songs, whilst I'm directing a few as well. As far as I know, songs were selected based on personal preferences of the directors and choir members, also taking past audience reactions into account of course. I definitely think that mixing the experienced old hands in the group, with the new recruits, enhances our sound. It takes our historical roots and personal outlooks into account, while making our presentation fresh, up-to-date and relevant to our audiences," added Eshantha.
"Also in my personal opinion, I actually love the fact that we're not a professional choir. As far as I'm concerned, our mission (practically speaking) isn't really to become the choral representation of Sri Lanka. I strongly believe that music is more than just entertainment, and I try to conduct the choir from that perspective; the better we sing together, the more satisfying the bonding experience," said Eshantha passionately.
"About the music, the show comprises of songs we have performed over the past 10 years and we have picked up a few of them, mostly based on feedback from the audience, which helps create our "best of" concept. As for the new ones that have been included for the show this time, they were picked out by a few of us and were thereafter agreed upon by the choir," explains Migara.
Selecting the final line-up wasn't easy as they'd initially thought, because they had to ensure that all bases were covered (with regard to genre), in our final list. A few of the OJC met up regularly, a few months back, during the very early stages of rehearsal, for "song-selection" meetings and thus came up with a rough list of songs, which they eventually weeded through and created the final line-up, agreeable to all. So as always, you should expect to hear songs ranging from genres such as spiritual, classical, pop, blues and rock, he added.
"Also, some of the medleys were "work-shopped," especially at times where we had a bunch of songs and just had to find better ways of linking them together in order to come up with a medley. The songs were merely put forward to the guys and then suggestions stared pouring in as to how the bridges between songs could be linked etc., So, we tried them out and stuck with the ones that worked and suited us best," said Migara.
"When each of the three of us started training the guys and considered each piece, we were somehow able to figure out who could best handle what section/s of the show. Of course, we were heavily influenced by our past training experiences for this task; Geethika's experience with the College Choir, Eshantha's extensive exposure and experience with blues, jazz and rock and I, myself can undertake songs that span a few genres, elaborated Migara.
As for approach to training, Migara prefers to follow a structured approach, where he starts off teaching the group parts, ensuring the guys memorise the parts and then introduce them to the expected voice quality and dynamics that would help build up the mood of the song, he said.
"As of now, I think we are quite a healthy unit and all sing together because of the sheer love we have for music and because we enjoy every second of being together as a bunch of friends," said Migara emphatically.
"The whole concept of "work-shopping" some of the songs, was to get the choiristers really involved in their own direction so that they would feel the songs more and are thus able to relate to them better, especially as they all have great ideas! I wanted to take those ideas, refine them, brainstorm further and come up with a end product favourable to all. It worked brilliantly!
Don't expect the usual Evo concert which is broken into various segments. This time, all three of them have been involved in everything and have worked together to ensure the songs are better now than when originally performed, he added.
"When selecting our repertoire for the show, firstly we chose songs that the guys loved to sing and which they have received positive feedback on from audiences, whilst even my older brother (Deshan Cooray, founder member and director of the OJC) also contributed with some idea and suggestions on how to improve the song selections," he added.
"Having only joined the choir for last years' carol service, this is my first concert with the OJC.
It's been a major cool experience for me as I grew up with a very strong OJC atmosphere at home, as was with the choir for the past ten years! I have been to almost every show of the OJC and when I started conducting the College Choir, it was always my dream to conduct the OJC! They're an awesome and very talented bunch and a very interesting crowd to work with! Conducting them (many of them my past choir leaders in college) has been an honour and I'm trying my best to do a good job," said Geethika ecstatically.
"Although I haven't been a part of the OJC for too long, from what I can gather, the guys seem to be very proud of the fact, especially those who have been singing for the past 10 years! I really wish my older brother could have been here, especially as he's been an integral part of the group since its inception.
Safra Deen will be a guest artist at the show, whilst Kamalini Samarakoon on piano, Christopher Prins on drums, young percussionist Rakitha Wickramaratne, Sarani Perera on lead guitar and Uvindu Perera on bass from Triloka, will accompany the choir. The choreography for the show will be done by Jerome L. De Silva, costume design by Jehan Aloysious and costumes by JoJo.
The main sponsor for the show is Nawaloka Aviation (Pvt. Ltd) – General Sales Agent – Air Arabia and the co-sponsor is Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC. The assistant sponsor is the Yamaha Music Centre, while TNL Lite is the official electronic media sponsor. The Sunday Times will be the official print media sponsor for the event. Tickets are available at the British School Auditorium.
Experience the "Timeless Echoes" of a decade-long journey of song, entertainment and friendship.
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