It’s not a Sister Act but a Fathers’ Act
The Priests are back with their Christmas special. If you haven’t heard of them, yes believe it or not, just as their name indicates, they are a choir of full-time clergymen who have devoted themselves to music and overcoming barriers of tradition. The Priests teamed up in 2011 and have entertained audiences with both secular and spiritual tunes; this season they’re hard at practice for “Christmas with The Priests”.
Fr. Nirosha de Mel
Having previously performed with other well known groups and even toured Kerala prior to their concert in September last year, The Priests are now ready to usher in the Christmas season with their music. Catering for a cross section of ages, they will be performing both oldies and new tunes of both secular and spiritual nature- ranging from well known Christmas carols, Sinhala and Tamil songs and even some original compositions.
“Church music has influenced our style a great deal,” they say and even if they sing secular music the priests are intent on “catering music to the soul”. Their belief that the human voice is the most powerful instrument is their founding philosophy and their acapella numbers are sung in the belief that “closer and artfully precise harmonies build closer bonds with the listeners’ hearts.” In orthodox churches we find that this style of unaccompanied singing is very popular,” they add.
Coincidentally the musicality of Moratuwa’s people is strongly evident among The Priests as four out of the five of them call Moratuwa home! They have all been brought up with music in their households and have had musical influences from childhood. Unsurprisingly church music is a prominent influence all of them have in common. “We look forward to singing together and it’s a relaxing break from our day to day duties,” shares Rev. Keerthisiri Fernando. “It is challenging also because the responsibility of each singer is higher than in other choirs. If one of us can’t make a practice a whole part is missing,” adds Rev. Upul Fernando from Waikkalla. “But team spirit is vital to us and we work well as a team,” says Rev. Suranga de Mel. They will be joined by Rev. Nirosha de Mel to constitute the complete band. “The stress related to putting on a show is my responsibility,” laughs Rev. Malinda de Mel who leads the unusual choir.
Priestly line-up: Fr. Malinda de Mel, Fr. Upul Fernando, Fr. Keerthisiri Fernando and Fr. Suranga de Mel. Pix by Mangala Weerasekera
The Priests invite the public to come down to the Ladies’ College Auditorium at 6.30 p.m. on November 23 to welcome Christmas through music and family entertainment. They promise an interesting line-up of Christmas specials including a guest performance by the De Lanerolle Brothers and the St. Nicholas’s International School Choir.
They will also be launching a CD with all the songs performed at the concert and a few Gospel numbers titled “A Collection of Christmas Carols and Spirituals”. The launch will take place at the concert and the CD will be priced at Rs. 500.
Tickets for ‘Christmas with The Priests’ priced at Rs. 1,000, Rs. 600 and Rs. 300 for balcony seats are available at the Holy Emmanuel Church Parish Office- Moratuwa, the Bible Society, Colombo 3, St. Paul’s Church- Milagiriya, Back to the Bible- Town Hall and the Diocesan Office- Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 7.