Harmony truly meets humanity

As we walk into the elegant Park Street house where the World Muslim Choral Ensemble is heard soulfully drilling for their debut show to be held this evening at the Lionel Wendt Theatre, we are momentarily whisked off into an oriental reverie, echoes of Samarkand, nomadic desert tents at dusk, minarets, the camel wagons, the desert sands over which falcon flies…

The first ever international Muslim choir is coming to shape nicely- by the sound of it, and wielding the baton like a high priest is Prof. Andre de Quadros.

Alongside executive director of the WMCE Haadia Galely and vocal coach Manoj Sanjeewa, it is Prof. de Quadros who has been the mentor.

A Goan by heritage, this music educator cum conductor cum ethnomusicologist is a professor at Boston University and a human rights activist to boot. Promoting peace through music is something he had always believed in. This evening’s concert is called Tribute to Humanity: Harmony meets Humanity.

Andre was drawn by what he calls the ‘vast tradition’ of Islamic music, with so many languages and so many styles, and added this to his many other choirs including VOICES 21C, Common Ground Voices, Common Ground Voices / La Frontera, and the Manado State University Choir.

One emblematic story on his mind speaks of what he wants to achieve with his music.

A prisoner who was part of a musical programme Andre was conducting used to be withdrawn and unsociable. After leaving incarceration however he was to tell Andre of how the music helped him reconcile with a member of a rival gang in the same cell.  “He said it began a journey for him of personal change.”

The bubbly choristers of the WMCE participating in the one-week residency in Colombo are in their 20s and 30s and mingle freely with the original Muslim Choral Ensemble members.

From Kashmir comes Basit Fazli and Adnan Manzoor. Basit is a guitarist following Sufi and country music, with his own studio called Qalaam.

Adnan Manzoor

Adnan obliges me by playing on his beautifully patterned rabab –  a ‘peaceful’ instrument as he calls it, made with goat skin and two of its strings made from the intestine of a goat. Adnan is the youngest yet best known rabab player in the Kashmir valley.

Nabeel Khan from Delhi is 22 and has the looks to match his surname. He plays the sarangi –  a string instrument made of ‘tun’ wood. Nabeel cheekily calls it “the instrument closest to the human voice, heart and shape- it has a mouth, stomach and two ears.”

Nabeel is the eighth generation wielding an instrument probably millennia-old, and the grandson of Padma Bhushan awardee Ustad Sabri Khan Saheb. Nabeel says he had at first no interest in the ‘boring’ piece his grandfather would insist he learn, instead pursuing cricket and a vague dream of going for Bollywood. But in time he would claim his inheritance.

Iman Shahid from Pakistan got to know Andre at a choir in China.

Krystal Morin and Brad Doumont from Boston were seasoned habitués of Andre’s choirs there and wanted to learn more about the Islamic faith and its musical tradition. They were drawn by an instinct to battle Islamophobia which they say can have a stranglehold in the USA.

Says Brad, “One of the things that is different about a space Andre creates is that we spend a lot more time with each other. I think that’s a really important part of a process.”

From Iran come Farzad Omidi and Navid Eskandari. Navid plays the santoor, which he tells me has many cousins across the world and is called the dulcimer in the Anglo-Saxon world. Navid enjoyed “the teamwork, the practice and getting to know brothers and sisters from different countries”.

Vocal coach Manoj Sanjeewa who is also conductor of the University of Visual and Performing Arts’ choir, also a lecturer and a psychologist, says it was ‘amazing’ to meet people from across the world, but it was not easy given the potpourri of languages.

“It’s challenging to take everyone coming from many different genres on the same platform- but I think we are all facing that challenge nicely.”

The residency programme promises to be an annual event.

Tribute to Humanity goes on the boards at the Lionel Wendt today, Sunday, July 24 from 7 to 9 p.m. Artistes Ratnam Ratnaturai and Jananath Warakagoda will also feature.