Asian Choir Games’ Friendship concert thrills audiences

When compared to the somewhat empty halls at Nelum Pokuna and Lionel Wendt, there was a good turnout for the friendship concert held on Tuesday (October 24), even though the concert was held outside and spectators were required to sit on the iconic steps leading up to Nelum Pokuna.

The friendship concert was a break from the stiff competition which has been taking place for the last four days. The concert, which had a particular focus on children, had an interactive session and individual performances from some of the choirs.  

The interactive session was held by Artistic Director of the Colombo Cultural Hub Trust Soundarie David Rodrigo and Soul Sounds, who taught the other participating choirs a few songs which they all sang together. This session was open to everyone, including audience members who were willing to join in. The performance was moving, with everyone coming together to raise their voices in harmony, transcending nationality, race, religion etc. through their common love of music.

The concert comprised of Lyceum College, Panadura, Indian choir KC Lights, Indonesian choir PSM Vocalista Paradisio UPN Veteran Yogyakarta , the Ladies’ College Intermediate choir and Indian choir Mizo Cardinal choir.  Each choir sang between two to four songs. Lyceum’s rendition of Green day’s ‘ 21guns’ complete with simple hand gestures was moving, as were the young girls from Ladies’, who sang Josh Groban’s famous hit single ‘You raise me up’. KC Lights stole the show when two of their young choir members balanced two plates each – one on their head and the other on their chin and then twirled around with the plates balanced perfectly. Their rendition of Micheal Jackson’s ‘Man in the mirror’ was also moving. PSM Vocalista Paradisio UPN Veteran Yogyakarta’s rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’ was a great crowd pleaser, while the Mizo Cardinal choir’s rendition of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ was also very interesting.  

Overall, the concert was very interesting and was a good way for the choirs to perform without the added pressure that comes with competing at the games, and was an evening of music and camaraderie – the intended goal of the concert a great success.