Voices out-of-the-box
Salma Yusuf chats to Voice.Print
about their latest musical production to hit centrestage
By Salma Yusuf
The newly established past Benedictine
Choral outfit, Voice.Print is all set to produce Up
Where We Belong – a choral concert that will include
a variety of music encompassing the 70s, 80s and 90s
right through to contemporary styles.
The concert will include live performances
by a select few of the top-notch choral outfits in the
country with Voice.Print as the main act.
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St. Benedict’s College Choir |
“The technical definition of
a Voice Print is a graphical impression of a person's
voice on paper (like a footprint). We aim to create
a lasting impression on the people who listen to our
music,” Michael Sathasivam (Director) elaborates.
The image of the choir under the leadership of several
young generations of musicians has morphed musically
from a choir that performed mostly classical music to
a choir that performs all types of music ranging from
barbershop, plantation, folk, swing, be-bop, r‘n’b,
jazz, rock‘n’roll and ethnic music.
The Benedictine choir dates back to
the early 1900s. It was in the midst of the First World
War, that Bonnie Fonseka, who was a distinguished old
Benedictine, had a vision of forming a musical club,
which soon became a Benedictine tradition.
This promoted the birth of the first
college choir. There were over 50 choristers ranging
from sweet-voiced little sopranos to high tenors and
big bass singers. The choir acquired a reputation for
top class singing, and in addition were often invited
to perform at important national events and even got
an opportunity to perform with other schools when Princess
Elizabeth visited Ceylon in 1952. “It is with
pride that we record that the conductor of this combined
choir was none other than Bonnie Fonseka,” Michael
explains.
The college choir has always been
a platform for its students to achieve international
recognition musically, and has produced accomplished
singers, conductors, accompanists and musicians. Some
of the more prominent artistes include the late Sunil
Santha, Robert Joseph, Francis D’Almeida, Denzil
& Bosco, Raj Seneviratne (Savages), Peter Prins,
Benjy Ranabahu, (Aquarius), Trevin Joseph (Phase III)
and Donald Perera (Mirage).
The past 10 years have seen a choral
renaissance at St. Benedict's with the choir reaching
greater heights of success, being cited as one of Sri
Lanka’s best classical choirs. This was due to
the untiring efforts of Ravien George who was instrumental
in reviving the great traditions of the college choir.
The hard work and dedication culminated in the choir
winning the All-Island Singing Competition in 1999 and
was named the Island’s Best Choir in the open
category.
Voice.Print is a culmination of a
long standing desire by past choristers of St. Benedict's
College to continue the great tradition of the college,
and form a group of singers and musicians who had a
common interest – singing. The choir now comprises
about 40 members from all walks of life – bankers,
IT professionals, designers, advertising executives
and school leavers.
Krishan Ralph Rodrigo, Conductor/
Music Director for the performance, aged 25 is in Business
Development at the Aitken Spence Group. Coming from
a background of music of three generations, he has successfully
conducted shows for the Benedictine choirs in the past
as well. He has also conducted the 1000-voice Concert
God Spell organised by the Colombo Archdiocese. Krishan
was instrumental in bringing together the past choristers
to form Voice.Print and is responsible for training
and conducting the choir. “Voice.Print is an out-of-the-box
type choir which sings different types of music, and
that is my motivation. Singing with my peers –
guys who I looked up to in school, and guys whom I trained,
is a wonderful feeling, and coming back together to
join in music is very exciting,” Krishan explains.
He goes further to add, “The
challenge in Voice.Print is to bring the boys together,
as they are all young working men, with very busy schedules.
Bringing them back to achieve high standards after a
long break is the most difficult.”
Dilan Elmo Irugalbandara, just 20
years of age, is full-time with Voice.Print Dilan is
responsible for arranging all parts for the choir. All
music being performed by Voice.Print and the St. Benedict’s
College choir on the show days are arranged by him.
With an amazing talent to listen to a song once and
arrange appropriate parts, he is the backbone of the
choir. He sings for a band, which he formed with his
classmates, plays guitar and has recorded many originals
and is in the process of releasing “It’s
You” – an original on Sri Lankan radio.
Michael Sathasivam, runs an IT System
Integration company and is responsible for the production
and direction of the concert. He has always been into
the arts and music, coming from a musical family himself.
Michael has sung with various choirs
from a very young age, and currently sings bass for
Voice.Print. He also plays trumpet, and was a founder
member of the Sri Lanka Youth Orchestra playing percussion.
He has sung previously with Choro Benedicte and was
the founder leader of the newly revived St. Benedict’s
College choir in 1996.
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Voice.Print - Pix by M. A. Pushpa
Kumara |
“Voice.Print is very unique in
the fact that the boys pick up their parts and harmonise
so easily. I think they are the best in the country
when it comes to learning new music. All we need is
a couple of run throughs and we then move to putting
the parts together. This is no easy task, and we are
very proud of it,” Michael explains. On a more
personal note he says, “Music is my main form
of relaxation and after a hectic work day, it's great
to get together with the boys and sing. We sometimes
improvise at concerts and the melodies are unbelievable.”
Sandeep Milan John, easily one of
the most talented keyboardists in the country, is also
one of the few talented up and coming instrumentalists.
He has since moved on to being an accomplished keyboard
player, backing Voice.Print and the St. Benedict’s
College choir for most of their concerts. Sandeep along
with his brother Shane who is a drummer, have their
own band, and will be featured on the show. During the
day time Sandeep works at HDPL as a Customer Service
Agent.
Eshan Dhanuska Anthony is the Visual
Director for Voice.Print. Eshan is responsible for the
visual aspects of the choir. He is a keen choreographer
and puts together most of the movements for the choir.
He is also responsible for designing the costumes and
sets for the show. Eshan started off much like the rest
in the college choir in 1999, and continued to sing
until he left school.
He was a member of the Sri Lanka Symphony
Chorus under Lalanath De Silva, singing tenor. He now
leads the first tenor section of Voice.Print, and is
a featured soloist at the concert.
His musical influences range from
Metallica, Elvis, Iron Maiden. Eshan also formed X-Centric
– a double quartet a capella group, who will perform
at the show.
The back-up band for the guest choirs
will comprise both past and present Benedictines, who
have come together to form a beat band for the show.
The band consists of Pathum Fernando from Sound Journey
on lead guitar, Shivantha Fernando on Bass, Shane John
on acoustic drums and Sandeep John on keyboards.
The young men of Voice.Print aim to
leave a lasting impression on lovers of Western choral
music throughout the country with Up Where We Belong,
which will hit the stage on September 23, and 24 at
the Lionel Wendt at 7 p.m.
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