The German Hall at Bala Mandir rang with voices in harmony as school children showcased their talent in choral music on Saturday. Organised by the Madras Youth Choir, students from 14 schools competed for the MBS Memorial Trophy. It was a morning of music as young voices sang songs of national integration in sync.
After a tough competition among the school choirs, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan School, KK Nagar was judged the best in the competition. This is the second time in a row PSBB School, KK Nagar has won the competition was revived last year. “These kids won last year so they wanted to continue winning,” said their music teacher, Sri Vidya Swaminathan, who has been training the choir for about a month for this competition.
DAV Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Mogappair were the first runners-up and Sri Sankara Vidyashram Matriculation Higher Secondary School, the second runners-up. Both the schools were neck and neck in their scores as they sang their own compositions. “All the groups had excellent voices. Every group is competent enough to win, provided they have more training,” said B Neeraja, carnatic musician, one of the judges. Udipi Gopalakrishnan, carnatic vocalist and Paramasivam, keyboard and harmonium player were the other judges for the event.
A special commendation prize was awarded to the Bala Mandir choir of under-privileged children from the orphanage. The group, consisting of children in the age of seven to 13 years, sang in perfect pitch with only a harmonium accompanying them. “Bala Mandir kids may be socio-economically deprived but they have really felt included after the Madras Youth Choir took them in,” said Maya Gaitonde, managing trustee of Bala Mandir who distributed the certificates and prizes.
The Indian Choral Music Competition, started by MB Srinivasan, took place every year until 1992 and was terminated due to a lack of funds. The Madras Youth Choir revived the competition last year with seven schools participating. Twice the number of teams compared to last year participated in this competition.