A choir and a voice factory rolled into one

Carol signing by choir of CSI Redeemer Church – Anna Nagar on December 15, 2024. This year’s carol service mark the choir’s thirtieth.
| Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK

CSI Redeemer Church Choir — Anna Nagar East is a voice factory with an overactive assembly line. Larynges are led through rites of passage. Brought in young, the larynges grow and the voices crack. Each of them is finally heard settling into a defined character.

On December 15, 2024, when the church’s much-acknowledged carol concert hit the 30-year mark — as it presented ‘Magnificat’ — the ability to churn out voices at various stages of development was in full display. Multiple generations of voices made the line-up: the senior choir with those aged 20 and above; junior choir consisting of teenagers; and the kids choir straddling the 5-12 age bracket. It was a horde of voices, pummelled into order through a punishing practice schedule, one requiring a generous sacrifice of weekend hours.

With players of string and wind instruments thrown into the mix, it was a 115-member strong choir.

Immanuel Ponraj who has led those voices in all of those 30 years as its conductor, recalls, “In 1995 when we started, the choir had only 15 to 20 members.” The choir in 1995 was wearing noticeably grey hair, a hairstyle drawn from a maximum of two generations. Last Sunday, the choir sported a range of hairstyles as encyclopaedic as the set of songs it presented. It took effort spanning decades to ensure that cross-section of coiffures.

The church introduced and perfected a system that guarantees that no place in the choir falls vacant — well, silent. The system in fact pushes for the creation of additional places and voices.

“Many of the people have been in the choir for the last 30 years,” says Immanuel. “Early on, we established a junior choir feeding them with songs tailor-made for them. They cannot relate to the songs the senior choir sang — and that is a recipe for drop-out scenarios. By providing them with songs that they were comfortable singing we got them interested in church music. In 2000, we started a kids choir, as many little ones were interested, certainly with some nudging from parents who came to us with a request. The kids graduate from one choir to another and that is how we managed to maintain more than a full number of choristers despite considerable migration happening on account of relocation due to marriage and work. One can see many youngsters in this choir which is a rare thing.”

Efforts are put in to ensure a matching diversity on the other side of the church — that is, in the pews occupied by the listening congregants.

“Usually , we have something for every ear — classical music, contemporary songs, regular Christmas songs, new arrangements and for variety, we throw in Tamil songs into the mix,” Immanuel explains.

A rather tight practice schedule and regular performances on the big stage make this choir singing-fit at any given time.

“Every Sunday , we sing a special song at the church at the 7 a.m. English service. Based on the theme of the week , we take a song. prepare it and sing it,” says the conductor. It is Net practice for the big day in December.

“This is one of the reasons we have been able to sustain the choir. Every Saturday we meet and have practice sessions at different times for kids, junior and senior choirs. In addition to the Christmas carol concert , a Good Friday concert that we perform has people from outside flocking to our church. For the Good Friday concert, we start practice from the end of January,” elaborates Immanuel, adding that he conducts these choir practice sessions assisted by pianist Hannah Jane. The string and wind instruments add grandeur to the choral presentation and not all the talent in the orchestra is in-house.

“Those playing the strings are all professionals. Many of them have associated with the Christmas concert for 18 years. They are paid a small amount, and it is a church event, they are willing to play for this modest pay. Players of wind instruments belong to various churches; they join us to help us out.”

Immanuel notes that in terms of choral singing, the church has been playing on a comfortable wicket from day one.

“The church is 55 years old, and from day one, we have had a decent choir. Arthur Muthiah started it 55 years ago and then different hands came in,” says Immanuel.

From the performance on December 15, it is evident each hand has played well the cards it has been dealt.