Among those who play strangers, you all need love for music and harmony

On Sunday morning, approximately fifty people gather in upset galleries, trying to find a comfortable spots on chairs, stools and floors to settle for the next three hours. The center has a keyboard, and musician and vocal coach Medha Sahi flows around in an untoward loop. We are a group of strangers, some confidence and excited, and some, mostly nervous about the possibility of singing and are turning into a song playing a song of strangers. “I’m glad you are all here and are ready to keep yourself in a weak position,” Medha said laughing.

Earlier this year, Medha started a stranger song playing in Goa when she really wanted to sing with a group of people. “I sent a lesson to this community art group, I am a part in Goa and asked if anyone was ready to come together for the song. I was overwhelmed how excited I was since I received ten reactions. Although eighteen people were finally shown and how it started; with a group of strangers who were ready to take a chance on a thought,” she did not say.

There is no audition and no prior music experience is required to be a part of this experience. Photo Credit: S Garibwaja

The idea here is simple. Medha announced dates for every city that he is to travel, and people have signed up to be a part of this pop-up song. I find myself with a group of strangers in Chennai, many of which have no music experience, including me. There is no audition here to fear, and all is a need for music, some people here seem in abundance. “In Chennai, you will find the best singers,” a contestant proudly tells Medha, which is greatly influenced by our early vocal warm ups.

After the first hour, a slow but certainty is to reduce barriers here. People are finding out their neighbors (Medha has forbidden people to sit next to the people they already know), and we have enthusiastic enthusiasm when Chapel Roan receives his song for the day – ‘Pink Pony Club’. After some chaotic minutes, after finding out if we are high, low, or medium on the scale of the pitch, we are divided into groups to learn the song.

Medha says with experience, she has seen how soon people come out of their shells when people are a big group. She says, “You can hardly hear yourself singing, so you are not fully aware of what you make sounds,” she says. As we learn the song and then sing, Medha’s energy remains high. “I always tell my students and my songs that the most person in the room will always be for me. Therefore, you can do whatever you want, and I feel that it makes such people comfortably,” she laughs.

The song as a group makes us easily, and we are mostly surprised how we all sound together as a group that does not know each other. After traveling across the country in cities including Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi along with the singers, Medha says that the energy of each city is different. “Whether it is the number of people who change, or the site or even local food I get to enjoy, every city has been an adventure,” she says.

Medha is hoping to take the songs of strangers to more cities in the coming months, and another visit to Chennai will also be seen in another season. “Music is a naturally human quality that it exists only with everyone, and this is what I think is everything about the song playing. The enjoyment of music is something that does not only need to experience by those who are trained, gifts or talented; this is just something that makes us people,” she says.

An hour of practice later. We are all ready. Medha starts playing singing on her keyboard, and a room of fifty voices sings perfectly with gust. “Pink Pony Club, I am going to dance at Pink Pony Club.” We are all smiling each other, stretching our fingers and sealing our feet. In fact it is not a group of strangers at the end of all, and a step is close to becoming a fearless singer.