Strains in symphony

The two-day 18th Glorious Festival Harmony had more than 26 choirs participate from across the country. They sang everything from Negro spirituals, Western Classical music, rock and roll to hip hop music.

Among the choirs were church choirs, independent groups and colleges.
The festival began with the St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science. Conducted by Anand and Hadlee and accompanied by Robin, Nithin and Nikil, they sang Awesome God, Seasons of Love and a medley. The choir of Bethany High School, conducted by Miriam Andrews, sang and choreographed to the tune of Rise up and Praise Him, Welcome to the Family and I Can See Clearly Now.
The group even had independent choreographers come on stage and perform in sync with the song.

A new addition to the festival were the Wayfarers, who sang a Negro spiritual song, a rather lively number titled, Ride the Chariot then moved on to the popular but remixed version of God So Loved the World, and concluded with Wayfaring Stranger, another Negro spiritual.

The Madrigals Etc, a group dedicated to singing renaissance music lived up to expectations of the audience and belted out the best of Western Classical music including Morely’s lively number, Now is the Month of May and Farrant’s Hide not Thou Thy Face.

The East Parade Church Choir, perhaps the only church choir in the City trained in Western Classical music, led by Sujith Vengal Mathews, sang With Cheerful Notes from G F Handel, Sing to the Lord a New Song from Shirley Porter and Siyahambha from Jose M G. 

The  festival closed with performances from Terbanacles and Glomen, two independent groups, an offshoot of the Glorious.
“The festival  aims at bringing together choristers from across the country. The interesting mix of music, genre and age groups is something that is unique to the festival,” says Reji Chandy, the conductor of Glorious.