Caroling goes virtual
View(s):This Christmas one cannot help but notice the lack of live carol services that typically happen during this time of the year. This week, we spoke to a few groups, who are striving to keep that Christmas spirit alive in the only manner the world has functioned this year, virtually.
Christmas to the Old Joes Choir (OJC) is symbolic of the choir’s anniversary and typically they celebrate by singing at the annualJosephian carol service. However, this will be the first time they won’t be singing for the service.
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- Video Rehearsals Sound Scope Pic courtesy magnet studios
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- Shobi Perera
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- Minesh Dissanayake Pic courtesy to Magnet Studios
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- Lawyers’ Choir Pic courtesy Lawyers’ Choir
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- Fortude Choir- Photo courtesy Fortude
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- Daniella perera and Andrea Melisa Pic courtesy to Magnet Studios
Instead, they focused on remaking a Christmas classic, ‘Saviour’s Day’ by Cliff Richards, with the intention of delivering a message of hope.
The OJC is no stranger to virtual videos involving the entire ensemble, after having previously produced their lockdown version of ‘World in Union’. This video went on to gain over 17,000 views on YouTube. Similarly, a few weeks ago they collaborated with Camerati, to release a cover of ‘That’s Christmas to me’.
As ‘Saviour’s Day’ highlights, all aspects of the track, including the instrumentation, audio and video production done by the choir members themselves.Geethika Cooray, who handled the music direction, sent out detailed instruction videos for the guys to rehearse and share their takes. The ensemble videos shared by the choir were then sent for audio engineering, where they were managed by Denham Hakel.
When it comes to a project of this nature the pre and post production edits are the hardest aspects, we find. Therefore, the choir is glad to have their in house team comprising Rehan Almeida, Dino Corera, Jeremy Valencia and VihanUdawela working on the project. ‘Saviour’s Day’ manages to capture whatChristmas means to the OJC and they hope to share this feeling in a simple, yet meaningful manner with the world currently facing a global pandemic.
To access their video follow their YouTube channel @ The Old Joes Choir
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was their passion for music, coupled with an opportunity to share a smile with those in need of love during this socially distant season that prompted the Fortude choir to go virtual. On December 3, they released their rendition of ‘Do they know it’s Christmas time’ on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
The focus of the project wasn’t to simply produce a song or video; rather it was about making a difference through music.
The choir hoped to raise awareness and encourage all Fortude employees to pledge their support in making this holiday season brighter for a differently-abled children’s home in Panadura.
They were aided in their project by professionals such as choral director Nishantha Warnakulasuriya, audio engineer Denham Hakel and video editors SankhaKumaragamage and Dananjaya Fernando. This helped raise the bar of the final result, we are told.
After three virtual rehearsals and two weekend recordings, twelve talented in-house singers on their mobile phones were ready with the carol.
Caring is a core value that Fortude extends to the community, and despite the twists and turns of 2020, they hope this virtual carol inspires their audience to ‘spread a smile of joy’ amongst those who truly need it this season.
They are currently in the process of collecting donations through their global workforce and the project will draw to a close once they hand over the purchased essentials to the children’s home.
Their video can be accessed on- https://bit.ly/3hrcT3H
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Sound Scope the Christmas season is all about spreading love, joy, sharing and supporting each other during a time of need. Though they had a Christmas Concert in mind initially, owing to the pandemic they decided to shoot a series of music videos in the form of a mini-Christmas Album, titled‘Christmas is Here’.
This is essentially a continuation of their Christmas Concert from last year (2019) and Sound Scope is in collaboration with multiple artists and bands for the project. Some of them include, En Route [Gananath Dasanayaka, Dilip Seneviratne, Shobi Perera, Charith Fernando], Brown Sugar [Ashane Bernard, Ravin Ratnam, Shane John, Denver Barnes, Janith Gamlath, Shala Amarasuriya], TehaniTissera, AmarshaTissera, Minesh Dissanayake, Daniella perera, Shobi Perera, Charith Fernando, Andrea Melisa, Melissa Pereira, Asanka Sahabandu, Nishantha Warnakulasuriya etc.
Despite the lack of celebrations this year, Sound Scope believes it’s important to stay safe and do our part as responsible citizens. They hope to keep the Christmas spirit alive by doing their best as artists to keep their audiences entertained to the best of their ability.
They believe a music video can never replicate the actual feel of a live performance however the artists involved in the project have given their 100 percent to make this a reality. Sound Scope believes that if their music videos can bring a few smiles from a viewer’s perspective, they would have achieved their objective.
To check their videos, follow their Facebook page on- https://www.facebook.com/soundscope.lk
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Christmas season is always looked forward to especially because of its tendency to bring joy even to those who lead hectic lives throughout the year. Since their first Lawyers’ Carols service in 2013, which was done in collaboration with the Colombo Law Society, the Lawyers’ choir has looked to the end of the year as an opportunity to sing together and share in that Christmas cheer.
Since then, the carol service has become a seasonal staple which most Lawyers look forward to during the final week of the term.
This year however, they had to make the tough call of cancelling the event due to health and safety restrictions. But, this group of talented individuals didn’t want to forfeit the opportunity to sing together.
Wanting to keep the tradition alive, they decided to take up the challenge and move the carols onto a virtual platform.
The initial enthusiasm shown by the members was encouraging and soon there were enough choristers to embark on the project.
The recording process however was no easy task and there was no room for error since the individual recordings of each voice had to be synchronized. As a result the members of each part had virtual practices to ensure the pitching and pacing was perfect, thereafter each attorney had to record themselves individually.
The Lawyers hope their medley of carols would bring a smile to everyone after the difficult year 2020 has been. The choir firmly believes that though this year we may not have our usual Christmas celebrations, we do have the opportunity to “strip away the frills and fluff and focus on what matters the most.”
Their video can be accessed on- https://bit.ly/3hiqcmW
(JS)