The Mixed Choir
Ajita Kadirgamar
I’m not a religious person. I don’t go to church very often. But I was in church last Sunday because my beautiful and talented Hindu friend invited me to listen to her choir at an event titled HymnFest ’13 – a festival of hymns for brass, organ, choir and congregation. So there I was at the quaint old St. Andrew’s Scots Kirk, Kollupitiya, listening to the powerful voices of a very ethnically mixed choir, including my Hindu friend.
When everyone is dressed in nondescript black, singing in one voice, you don’t see the individuals, you see one unified body with a single thread that binds them together – a love of music and singing. A glance at the names in the programme revealed a Malay (making his debut on Timpani), Burghers, Tamils, Sinhalese, a Colombo Chetty and a few foreigners. Yet little did it matter what their denomination or ethnicity was. No one questioned the appropriateness or their right to be in a church singing hymns to an audience that was equally diverse. There were even some seemingly foreign Muslim ladies dressed in shalwars in the gathering!
My friend may be a devout Hindu, but she has been singing in choirs all her life, thanks to her open minded parents. The youngest of six siblings they were all encouraged to go beyond their cultural and societal boundaries in their quest for hobbies, interests and pastimes.
While I listened to hymn after hymn and observed the ‘congregation’, I marveled at how unique and special this country is, for it affords us such a mixed tapestry of citizenship. Read More 