CHENNAI: An unlikely combination of Choral music, Six-part harmonies and Tamil poetry synchronised at the Madras Youth Choir’s (MYC) celebration of the birth anniversary of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi on Sunday here at Bharathiyar Illam.
The anniversary of Bharathi, who’s visionary and revolutionary views on life and society found expression at a time when society was caught in the web of illiteracy, ignorance and superstition, is celebrated by ‘Vanavil Pannpaattu Maiyam’ every year. Madras Youth Choir (MYC), the oldest Indian choral group brought alive the poet’s concepts in the company of the musical creativity of Late M B Srinivasan, who identified himself with the fiery spirit that emerged from the literary works of Bharathi.
“The spirit behind our group is to get people to sing together. Carnatic music becomes a bit elitist and we wanted to bring it to the masses,” says Gayathree Krishna, Executive committee member of MYC.
“We want to get more people to sing these themes of national integration and values.” The group is also multilingual, singing in Tamil, English, Hindi and even Bengali among other languages. The songs are mostly semi-classical. They also sing patriotic songs and some pure classical songs, all in harmony with the choral style envisioned by M B Srinivasan.
“The harmonies still stick to the raga structure,” says Gayathree.At the celebration, the junior group of MYC, presented three choral pieces of Bharathi - ‘Enniya Mudithal’, ‘Bharatha Samudhayam’ and ‘Olipadaitha Kanninaai’, followed by a presentation of ‘Paarukkulley Nalla Naadu’ by 50 students of Vidya Mandir Sr Secondary School, Mylapore.
The senior choir comprising 30 members then performed three pieces by Bharathi and one by Bharatidasan, all set to harmony.
“We hope spread the word about Indian choral singing,” Gayathree said.