Another ‘Evolution’ by Old Joes to take them to world stage
The Old Joes Choir (OJC) is ready with the fourth episode of ‘Evolution’, their concert to raise funds for their upcoming trip to Riga, Latvia for the World Choir Games where they will be the only South Asian Choir taking part. Evolution goes on the boards on Friday, June 27 at the Lionel Wendt.
Aiming high: Eshantha Peiris directing the Old Joes. Pix by Susantha Liyanawatte
The choir was formed 17 years ago by a few old boy choristers who wanted to take part in the College Carol Service. Brainstorming for different names, the “Old Joes Choir” has stuck, and since then, apart from singing at the college carol service annually to celebrate the choir anniversary, they have performed for the public at regular intervals.
“When our first concert was named ‘Evolution’ in the early 2000’s, we celebrated the evolution of music through our concert, or rather the choir’s ability to evolve with choral music. This year by the name we mean that the OJC as a choir has evolved from what we were at the inception. From being a choir which was only meant as a fellowship to relive our school days through singing, we are now taking not just our school but the whole country to the world stage. We have improved our singing, our members have changed and now we have members who have been there since the inception as well as those who left school just a year ago,” says former choir leader and Project Chairperson Rehan Almeida.
It was a massive leap of faith to go for the WCG, he admits, “There were many behind us who constantly encouraged us. We bypassed the initial qualification competition because of Soundarie David’s recommendation. Soul Sounds as well as Revelations have always supported us. The De Lanerolle brothers have conducted several workshops for us. There were many others who supported and coached us as well. We are humbled by their faith in us and for voluntarily helping us.”
Nicole Liyanage
Their biggest hurdle has been financing the project and they are resting many hopes on this concert. “One of the categories we have joined is a little novel to us. So we had to train our voices accordingly to bring the choir to an international standard. Motivation plays an important role in any competition and ours is the strong bond we have with each other and our love for our alma mater.” Coming near to almost abandoning the project due to the financial constraints, Rehan believes they had divine intervention in abundance along the way.
The choir is participating in the Sacred Music category and Barbershop music category. With a repertoire of nine songs; one out of the four songs done in the Sacred Music segment will be with a piano accompaniment, the rest sung acappella. The four songs in the Sacred Music segment are Ave Maria, Precious Lord, Lux Aeterna and Adora Muste Christe. The five songs in the Barbershop category are I love that old barbershop style, Rainbow Connection, Go the distance, Sesame Street theme song and Saints go Marching. “It’s an immense risk to have taken the Sacred Music category because the eastern European countries are known as the best for it, but we like challenges and besides, from our school days it’s the music we are most accustomed to,” Rehan says.
Rehan Almeida
Choral Director Nicole Liyanage has been singing in the school choir since he was in Grade two when he had to do a solo of ‘Mistletoe and wine’ for Christmas. “We are all working, some are still studying and some are married so it is tough to balance everything. But our love for singing and the dread of letting our own brothers down keeps us going,” he says. The other choral directors are Eshantha Peiris and Geethika Cooray.
When Nicole joined the choir seven years ago the toughest part for him was the strict “no aiya” rule. “In school even if someone is just a year older than us we call them aiya. But when I joined the OJC we were not allowed to call anyone aiya. It took me more than three months to get over the habit,” he adds with a laugh.
“For me it was a little intimidating at first,” says Shalinda Halpe, a younger chorister who joined last year. His favourite song is “Go the distance” because it’s the one that connects all of them with deep feeling. “I was never a singer or a chorister,” says Shalinda going on to say that he did guitar accompaniment;it’s an honour to represent the country and the whole South Asian region, he feels.
The boys will set off to Latvia on July 6. Evolution 4 will be on Friday, June 27 from 7.30 p.m. onwards at the Lionel Wendt. Tickets priced at Rs. 3000, 2000, 1000 and 750 are available at the Wendt.