SHILLONG, Dec 7: Christmas carols are usually western-centric in their meaning and metaphor. We have been listening to White Christmas in countries that don’t have snowfall. The Shillong Chamber Choir is bringing back the essence of Christmas by singing in ancient Aramaic language which was the language of Jesus Christ and which is now a dead language; they will also sing in contemporary Aramaic, in Hebrew, Farsi and even Urdu.
Speaking to The Shillong Times in an exclusive interview, Neil Nongkynrih, Director, Shillong Chamber Choir said, “We are bringing out this special album also to commemorate our tenth anniversary of winning the India’s Got Talent contest. This album is meant for a global audience and we hope it will usher in the real spirit of Christmas which is not about gifts and parties and the tsunami of western metaphors. In one of our prayer sessions we had a brainwave that a Christmas album with the Middle-Eastern language would also encapsulate Christ as the Middle-Eastern person he was, a Caucasian to be precise.”
Listening to the few songs in the album was sheer joy. The music accompaniment included a range of instruments from the Arab world which gave it an Afro- Eurasian- Oriental feel.
Describing that kind of music would require musical genius for it takes both sensitivity and brilliance to weave together that kind of music.
The essence of this album is “Goodwill to all of humanity,” for the Bible says “God so loved the world,” Neil says adding that God never came for the Christians only. “We wish to mend the schisms in society. The album includes the conventional Jingle Bells woven seamlessly into Handel’s Messiah with a very upbeat theme to it. But there’s also the touch of classical which will delight those with a refined musical flavour.”
The conventional Christmas carol – We Three Kings of Orient Are, is changed to We the Kings of Orient Are, because Neil says, a careful reading of history would reveal that these kings with their gifts might have travelled hundreds of miles and in those days people usually travel in a caravan which means they would have been a big group.
The Shillong Chamber Choir is looking at an appropriate date for the release of the album. But right now ‘Whispering Pines’, their abode at Pohkseh, is a rush of shoots and rehearsals and media interviews.
But there is an air of professionalism and discipline that this group has imbibed over time which makes it easy for them to work with clockwork precision.
The official audio on YouTube will be out on December 10, says William R Basiawmoit, the lead male vocalist. Meanwhile The Taj group of Hotels have also tied up with the Choir and will be giving a DVD of the album with each of their hampers, globally.
Judging by the finely calibrated musical composition and harmonically rich symphony, this Christmas album is set to be the magnum opus of 2020.