BENGALURU: A few weeks ago just before the lockdown, musician and founder of Bangalore Chorus, Maya Mascarenhas, came across a virtual choir by a group in Australia, not knowing that she might give this a try sooner than later. With the clampdown in full swing, Mascarenhas too decided to give it a try with 135 participants. “I watched that video out of curiosity and thought I would do something like that sometime. When the chance came, we asked the students to sing the song (Peace) and send it across to us. Many parents too asked if they could join in,”she says, pleasantly surprised by the reaction it has received on social media.
Soon, she had hundreds of videos, of people aged between four and 70, which had to be stitched together by her musician husband, Eric Samuel, and video being done by parent Harris Backer. “It’s an attempt to spread the message of peace and resolve in our first attempt of a virtual choir with members from 4 to 70 years singing via their mobile phones in the safety of their own homes,”she says, pointing out that this has been tried out in foreign countries.
The result has been two songs, including Hum Honge Kamyab. It was during the editing process that she realised what a mammoth activity they had taken on. “The audio and video had to be in synch, all of which took time,” she says, adding that a platform like Zoom for this wouldn’t have been possible because of the audio and video lag. Now, with students excited about the reaction to the first, they are working on the second. However, Mascarenhas has cautioned them that this time, expectations will be much higher. “So, we also told them to look into lighting and other minute details while recording,”she says.