How Madras Musical Association Choir is going for unique international cooperation

Western classical music has always captured an unusual place in Chennai. In a city, where the December season makes the headlines and Karnataka music shapes its identity, the strains of Bakh, Bernstein or Whitkere are often heard only in small circles – school songs, church halls or topical orchestra appearances. Nevertheless, in the last decade, there has been a quiet but prudent growth of Western Coral and Orchestra culture in the city. More youth are being trained, many schools are investing in singing songs and international dress is now stopping Chennai on their tours.

Members of Poland’s concerts Glackensis songs are recently performed at the Museum Theater in Chennai. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

What was in a recent concert was not only the measure – more than 120 sounds to fill the arches of the museum theater – but also easily that the audience hugged it. Holy music from Europe, Tamil folk tunes, songs from Polish village and broadway classics followed one after the other. For the audience, who could first face Western classical music through a school hymn or film Soundtrack, here was a chance to experience it as a full-edged coral form.

The program itself went amidst a serious prayer and playful rhythm, between the calm lyricalism of European hymns and the theatrical sweep of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s ‘Emigos Para Siampre’. But he was sung more than the individual ‘Przesliczna Panno’, and when Tamil ‘Pannai Maratha’ entered the air, he was happy. The applause rose during Broadway Medley, one reminded that Western music is no longer an imported curiosity, but some Chennai audience feels comfortable claiming as part of their hearing.

MMA Choir offered a frightening treatment for youth and similar music-loving audiences, in her recent performance with Poland’s concerts Glacknsis Choir at the Museum Theater in Chennai. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

As Augustine Paul, music director and MMA conductor, commented, “It was a cure for our music-loving audience, young and old equal.” His words occupy the widespread demographic of the audience. Once limited to a small Anglo-Indian and Christian community, Western coral music now attracts a more diverse public.

For Polish visitors, the experience was equally transformative. “The MMA songs are the first friends, and the allies are in second place,” said Conductor Katarzina Mokka, who has worked closely with MMA. He spoke of the emotional weight of some of the songs performed to his singers, and how the Chennai’s audience’s response confirmed the idea that the musical boundaries move. “Even if the words are not understood, the message is felt with the heart,” he reflected.

His words pointed to another dimension of such concerts: their ability to make sympathy. In an era where cultural diplomacy often takes the form of peak and business deals, there was a performance here that can be symbolic as well as symbolic. Katarzyna Mąka proceeded, suggesting that such cooperation can open doors for widespread exchange in education and social life, not only in music.

For those who play MMA songs, the concert was another chapter in its long history of catching Western coral traditions. For concerto glacinesis, it was a dream fulfillment.