Sunday Times 2
Camerati humbled and happy with their int’l win
View(s):By Kaveesha Fernando
Camerati has had quite a month. First they held their debut concert, ‘Make a Joyful Noise’ on September 30 and November 1, then they took part in the 1stLanna International Choir Competition in Thailand from November 19-23, winning gold medals and being placed first in both categories they took part in. Having met them last on the eve of their debut concert, the Sunday Times caught up with the group in the afterglow of their win.
A group of Merry An singers who enjoyed each other’s company and ended up singing together, Camerati includes Kumudini David, Sherene Vas, Inakshi de Silva, Ayushka Nugaliyadda, Yanitra Kumaraguru, Mihara Jayalath, Priyadarshini De Mel, Melissa Pereira, Neomi Muthkuda, Melani Bibile and Anushiya Bastiampillai. Although they always knew that they would face stiff competition, it was only when they arrived that they realized how high the standards were. “While waiting to take the stage, we would see choirs twice or thrice our size and we would be standing like ants, wondering how we would compete against them,” laughs Inakshi. Particularly difficult was the Gospel round where they took part against nine choirs, some mixed and most much larger than them.
While they had no competition in the Difficulty I category (the hardest of the two difficulty levels), automatically winning first place, they won gold medals in this category by being awarded more than 21 out of 30 possible points – an achievement in its own right. Following this, they were also one of seven choirs chosen from a pool of 57 to take part in the Grand Prize category. This was held to choose the overall winner of the competition.
The tight competition schedule made performances all the more nerve wracking. “We would be ushered on stage for a 10-minute rehearsal and they would be standing there with a stopwatch to usher us out the second our 10 minutes were up,” explains Inakshi. Although they were able to plan their rehearsal and make changes for the difficulty level 1 because the rehearsal and performance were a day apart, this was not the case for the Gospel and Spiritual round. Camerati was given a rehearsal just a few hours before the performance, so changing their routine to fit the acoustics of the stage etc. was not an option. However, they still managed quite well and were thinking of how they could relax when they were asked to perform for the Grand Prize category – something they never expected. For this they were given no rehearsal and needed to resort to googling pictures of the stage and figuring out how to sing on it.
Back home now, they are content to recuperate and plan to regroup soon. Says Ayushka “We were so focused on the competition that we kept saying we’ll decide on the future after that so after a short break, we will see how to proceed from here.” Success has opened many doors and they might take part in the Asian Choir Games being held in Sri Lanka next year, they say. “It’s not just winning that we are happy about, it’s also the fact its humbling to know how much talent is out there and to know how we can better ourselves,” smiles Ayushka.