Sounds for the season
When Choro Benedicte, the twelve man acapella group, finished their performance at the Colombo Music Festival in August and stepped down from the stage they were greeted by Manaram Gunetileke, owner of Faith and Hope records.
Little did they know that it marked the beginning of a truly formidable partnership. Manaram says that it was a meeting of fate, and he had found exactly what he was looking for – a truly talented acapella group that has the potential of creating original singles down the line. For Choro Benedicte, it was all about finding the right producer who got their drift in music.
Specialising in close harmony and vocal duplication, the group’s history is linked to older generations at St. Benedict’s College. “Kalasuri Lylie Godridge was involved with the choir for quite some time, and it was considered an honour,” says Krishan Rodrigo, one of the group’s directors. Formerly known as the Old Bens’ Chorale, there was a time when the group included 80-year- olds as well as 18-year-olds singing on the same platform.
The older generation were bridging the gap with the younger ones but practice schedules were demanding. “Going with the wind as it was, we decided to formulate the twelve member group. It was a solemn moment, but a bold decision that needed to come through.”
The new group now needed a name, one that would add the Latin touch while preserving their roots – Choro Benedicte fit perfectly.
The twelve members are Rehan Senaka, Nigel Machado, Nazarene Fernando, Andrew Ranjan, Praveen Perera, Krishan Rodrigo, Sonal Gunasekara, Adrian Lawrence, Palitha Perera, Aruna Fernando, Nipun Mendis and Dave De Visser.
Their ultimate goal is to become a fully fledged group composing original songs. “One sees more contemporary songs being included in our repertoire,” says Krishan. “The ultimate objective was to put out an original English acapella record,” says Manaram. “You cannot make your name by going into original songs at once. You need to give out the flavour to the public and then make them develop a liking for it,” Krishan adds. This idea was firmly held when engineering their first album, “Gradus Unus”. It was a hit.
The encouragement gathered from their first album motivated the release of the Christmas special – “An a’capella Christmas”.
It includes the first original acapella song in Sri Lanka which is arranged and performed in both Sinhala and English. Releasing two albums in one year was no easy task, considering that everybody had a career outside of the choir. The group makes special mention of Udara Fernando, the sound engineer for their album.
‘An a’capella Christmas’ is now out in stores.
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