Listening with the heart: recalling carol concerts at St. Mary’s Church

Reviewing a concert that happened five years ago is the equivalent of doing multiple backflips. Supposing that concert has to do with Christmas carol singing, a swan song by a celebrated choir fading into the sunset, the review enters trickier terrain. Emotions and not just notes need capturing. 

The 2019 Christmas carol concert at St. Mary’s Church in Fort St. George was its famed choir’s last gasp. It was probably not officially announced, nothing put down in black and white, but the choristers could see the writing on the wall, as clearly as when each letter is the size of a football.

John Millns Chorale with its conductor Jabez Janagaraj
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Jabez Janagaraj, the chief architect and conductor of the choir, John Millns Chorale, had passed on the previous year. It was going to be an emotion-packed concert from the get-go. The quaint little church that has aged well was packed to the wooden rafters. The pews were overflowing with the faithful. The choir had to bring their beloved ‘Uncle Jabez’ alive in every song they sang. The most memorable performance had to do with Jingle Bells, uniquely arranged by Jabez. 

In addition to the songs that were performed, the audience listened in to one that was not, that evening. The John Mills Chorale had its anthem, a song it fashioned in its “atelier”. It was “Bells in the Church Steeple Ringing,” a composition Jabez created himself. 

It became the choir’s signature piece, and Jabez’s wife Cheryl recalls how the choir’s voices would blend perfectly with the rhythm, filling the St. Mary’s Church with something irresistibly haunting. 

“When we finally nailed that harmony,” Cheryl recalls with a smile, “it was not just about the music. It was the joy of creating something together, of sharing that perfect moment.”

Though Jabez created this composition, when the choir perfected it, it was a feather tucked in the choir’s cap, not Jabez’s. 

Cheryl remembers how Jabez made everyone feel essential to the performance. 

“He had this incredible way of connecting with the music,” she recalls. “When we stood on that stage, candles flickering in the dim light, it felt like the whole world disappeared. The only thing that mattered was the music we made together.”

The preparation for the annual Christmas concert at St. Mary’s church would be on a slow boil but the fires would be stoked regularly. Multiple-part singing amplified by an orchestra would automatically mean diversity. Diversity usually presupposes various entities drawn from multiple addresses. The choir obviously sported talent not just confined to the church. The John Mills Chorale was famously associated with the orchestra led by Jerry Fernandez. Marshalling resources drawn from various sources takes passion and patience, boxes Jabez ticked. 

John Collison, a pianist who was assistant conductor when Jabez was around, and now played the pipe organ at St. Mary’s Church, Fort St. George, says: “The John Millns choir is unique to interpretation, tone and balance.” Note the present tense — John Collison remarks that to “continue the legacy of Jabez Janagaraj”, the choir should regroup, and he believes it could. 

Months of preparation 

For those who were part of it, the run-up to the annual Christmas carol service was a time of anticipation, a season unto itself. 

Cheryl remembers the excitement that filled the air long before December. John Millns Chorale had a “practice pad”, an upper room at a home in Thacker Street, Purasawalkam that was swept into the overall excitement. 

“Practices often started in June, but Christmas — Christmas was always the highlight,” she said. “There was something about the way the music came together, the way the room felt when we sang, that made everything seem possible.”

Massive choral concerts are obviously about teamwork and alignment, but to leave leadership, organisational skills and human resource management out of the picture is to ignore the giant piece in the puzzle. Jabez had these skills, imparted to him in his early years. 

Jabez’s music journey began on the right note, and kept hitting the right notes as it progressed. It started with piano learning with A. Charles of Thanjavur and J. Dawson of Madras. He then became a student of signing under the teaching and mentorship of Rev. John Millns, a renowned tenor, organist, and conductor. He also learn signing from Marina Cocali, a Gold Medalist of the Salzburg Academy and Prima Donna of the Athens Opera. Jabez’s training was further enriched with speech lessons under Colin Mortimer, a British Council speech expert. This was as robust a foundation as one can get to raise an edifice of choral music.

Employed in the Secretariat, Jabez was in the Tamil Nadu Government Staff Choir. In 1968, he founded a modest-sized choir, a male voice choir. It would eventually change its character, welcome female voices as well, grow gigantesque and come to be known as John Millns Chorale in 1993. 

Besides conducting the Christmas carol concerts at St. Mary’s Church in Fort St. George, Jabez garnered attention for conducting the Egmore Wesley Church Choir and helping shape and conduct the choirs of St. James Church in Ayanavaram and the Tanjore Male Voice Choir.

Cheryl reflects on the years Jabez was battling ill health and on the final concerts with a deep sense of pride. 

“Even when he was struggling with his health, he never let that stop him from sharing his love of music,” she remarks. “He showed us that even in the hardest moments, there was beauty to be found in the smallest details.”