By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 22: The third and final day of the Shillong Literary Festival saw the Shillong Chamber Choir in conversation with Brian Wahlang, Headmaster of Kiddies Corner School and a choir master himself.
The internationally renowned Shillong Chamber Choir has come a long way since 2000, when Neil Nongkynrih brought his most cherished dream of using music to silence the guns to life. At the time, Meghalaya was in the throes of militancy, and there was fear all around. Neil returned from England, where he was studying concert music and decided to bring together spirited young people with a love for music to form the Shillong Chamber Choir, which is now in its 25th year.
It has been a journey of commitment, constant learning, solidarity bound by humility, discipline, and adjustments for the Shillong Chamber Choir.
“There is no place for ego in our group. Uncle Neil, our founder mentor, told us we can have an opinion, but it should not be so strong as to lead to an ego clash,” choir member Riewbankit Lyndem said.
William Basaiwmoit, the lead male vocalist, said the choir is a testament to what Shillong, Meghalaya, and the Northeast can offer the world, and that we need to be proud of our rich and varied heritage. “Music is a strong medium for storytelling,” he said.
When Brian said that they glide so effortlessly from Hindi to English to Khasi medleys, William said it was something they had to learn because India’s Got Talent (IGT) demanded it. “There’s a lot of drama behind the apparent effortless delivery,” he said.
The Shillong Chamber Choir won the IGT contest in 2015. KC Lites, the Kiddies Corner Secondary School Choir, has been invited to contest in the IGT this year.
Rishila, a choir member from Nagaland but now settled in Shillong and married to fellow choir member Sandon Lyndem, said, “Joining the Choir gave me new confidence not to feel apologetic about coming from the Northeast. Now we feel we have to give back to the younger generation what we have learnt and imbibed as a group. That would be our lasting tribute to Uncle Neil.”
Jessica Lyngdoh, now married to William, said, “We had to do a lucky dip to decide on the medley we would sing. Uncle Neil told us that we have to live our songs. If we sing Yeh Dosti…, the audience has to see and feel that close connection we have as a group and that we stand for one another. Many musical groups have disintegrated, and their members have gone off on their own. We have been around for 25 years, and we have learnt that humility is what binds us together.”
They shared how Neil even taught them to walk with their heads held high at airports when they would go for performances.
When asked how they balance their hectic schedule with having to travel the length and breadth of the country and also manage their families, their answer was: Family comes first.
Over time, the members of the Shillong Chamber Choir have professionalised their functioning. They have an administrative office and someone to manage their operations. They never realised they would travel this far, but they said now they have learnt along the way. They have also inducted other younger singers into the group.
Rishila recalled how, in the past, they never thought of substitutes. This meant, a member running a fever and with a sore throat would take a quick paracetamol to bring the fever down and take some throat lozenges to be able to sing. “That’s how tough it was for us in the initial days,” she said.
William narrated how the choir was once invited to Scotland to sing for just a man and his son. “Normally, we would perform for an audience of thousands or a few hundred, and we would appear on stage only when everything was set. But this time, we were performing in this big auditorium in Scotland and for just two people. The son of the Scotsman left halfway through. So, we sang only for the man who invited us here. Our visas were done without any hassle, as officials came all the way to Shillong to get them done. Our air tickets were all done, and all we had to do was board the flight to Scotland and back. That gentleman continues to be our friend,” he said.
Other than a vast genre of music, the choir now sings in 40 different languages, depending on where they are performing. When in Russia, they would sing in the Russian language.
Recently, they conducted an oral workshop for over 300 music students in Norway. At the end of the workshop, those students sang the Khasi song composed by the late Neil, “Ko Ri Baieid Jongnga.”
A member of the audience remarked that she was mesmerised by the train song they performed inside a real train and in many different languages. William said they have sung in Tamil when in Chennai, in Malayalam when in Kerala and so on.
Noted author Jerry Pinto then asked the Choir to sing for the audience. They obliged and sang the chorus of their favourite song, Ko Ri Baied Jongnga.”
As always, the Shillong Chamber Choir is a beacon of hope for many young people. The way they have negotiated the twists and turns of life and plodded along with grit and determination after Neil Nongkynrih passed away very suddenly in 2022 and have remained constant in their fervour to live up to his expectations is a story that needs to be told over and over.
