Pune

mutual feeling

opera

Naxalite

prophet

tenor

high notes

A very dear friend from Harvard sends me the scores for the spirituals. The choir is all about celebrating the joy of music John Mathew, choirmaster

During their days of enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Africans who were ferried to the United States of America turned to music to deal with slavery and oppression.After the ‘stolen race’ converted to Christianity, the period marked the birth of the spirituals or songs. The coloured slaves, who were gifted with an innate sense of musicality, composed the emotionally charged spirituals to encapsulate their hope and despair.The IISER Choir was singing the very spirituals sung by the slaves at the sombre 151-year-old St Paul’s Church on Thursday evening. Core singers of the 16-member singing group, comprising students from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,(IISER), had assembled at the church in Agarkar Nagar for a rehearsal. Led by John Mathew, the choirmaster, the choir started off by singing ‘Go Down Moses’, an old spiritual.Abhinaya V, a PhD student recollects falling in love with ‘Go Down Moses’ the first time Mathew introduced the song to her. “Although the spirituals were sung in a religious context, the songs carry a powerful, social and political message,” she says. Everybody else in the choir shares afor the spirituals as Abhinaya. The IISER Choir was formed informally last year at Mathew’s campus quarter.Mathew was similarly drawn to the genre at Harvard University in 2012. Mathew, who is an associate professor at IISER, was a lecturer at that time in Harvard. “A very dear friend from Harvard sends me the scores for the spirituals,” he says. He likes to run the choir like a community and you don’t necessarily have to be an IISER student to join the ensemble. Although Shivangi Kale, winner of this year’s Idole Indienne, a singing contest held in the city last month, is pursuing her graduation from Symbiosis, Mathew did not hesitate to invite her.The IISER Choir started without a preamble and as Mathew likes to put it: “It is all about celebrating the joy of music.”Abhinaya, however, vividly remembers their unexpected introduction to the genre. “Four or five of us were at John’s house playing, but when ‘Go Down Moses’ was played, we fell in love with the song,” she recalls. With that, they decided to learn to sing the spirituals and delve into the songs’ history.After preparing for nearly six months, the choir is ready to present perhaps what is the first choral performance dedicated solely to the genre in the city.Mathew selected a total of 18 spirituals for the two concerts, the first of which took place at St Paul’s Church yesterday. On top of the setlist is ‘Go Down Moses’, which is followed by songs such as ‘Deep River’, ‘Roll Jordan Roll’ (the spiritual was featured in the period drama film, 12 Years a Slave) and ‘Joshua Fit the Battle’. Six months of learning to sing in harmony has helped the choir members develop a homogenous choral tone and understand the spirituals in their historical context. “Much of these songs were sung during the civil rights movement and the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM),” adds Abhinaya.The choir members were disturbed when the five activist-lawyers were arrested for allegedlinks two months ago. “That incident made us think just what do these songs mean. I could also see a connection between the civil rights movement and Dalit issues in India,” shares Abhinaya. For instance, ‘Would You Harbour Me’s?’ lyrics resonated with her. The song implores: “Would you harbour a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a heretic, convict or spy? Would you harbour a runaway woman, or child, a poet, a, a king? Would you harbour an exile, or a refugee, a person living with AIDS?” “This song, for me, is about our responsibilities as citizens of this country. I mean do we continue to stay ignorant of what is happening around us or does freedom come with responsibility,” says Abhinaya. ‘Would You Harbour Me?’ was written and composed by Ysaye Maria Barnwell, an American composer, in the 1990s.Vibishan B, a PhD student, grew up in a family of Carnatic musicians and is a trained Carnatic vocalist. “I am ain the choir,” he says. Vibishan, like the others, was drawn to the story of oppression encoded in the spirituals.“Every song in the tradition has a meaning. And the hymns are more about hope than the expression of one’s faith,” says Vibishan. Sandip George, also a PhD student, says, “The spirituals made me realise that slavery is still prevalent in society at different levels.”During the performance, all the 18 songs will be introduced to the audience. Mathew has referred to the book Wade in the Water: The Wisdom of the Spirituals, by Arthur C Jones, to provide background information on the songs.Bengaluru-based opera singer Payal Singh and Vijay Samuel, a singer from St Paul’s Church are the guest singers. Singh and Kale will sing a duet. “This is the first time that I will be singing a spiritual number and I am looking forward to the experience,” says Singh.Kale, too, is keen to sing with Singh. “I enjoy hitting the,” says Kale, who joined the choir to learn new songs and sing in harmony. The choir, says George, provides an outlet to try something different other than pursue academics. George, who is researching chaos theory, oddly perceives similarities between his subject of expertise and music. “I look for patterns in music as much as I look for patterns in data related to physics,” he says. The choral performance will take place today at IISER, at 7 pm.