Experience this choral performance reflecting the theme of 'unity' in Colaba

August is a busy month for Farahanaaz Sohrab Dastur The honorary director education programmes of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation MMMF is in the middle of choir rehearsals when she picks up the phone ldquoThis is the 30th anniversary celebration of the foundation We host our annual performances in Augustrdquo Dastur explains On Wednesday they will conduct the final performance at Afghan Church St John The Evangelist Church in Colaba alongside the visiting Ulmer Spatzen youth choir from GermanyA view of the nave of the Afghan ChurchSongs for unityTitled Beyond Boundaries the three concerts are part of the theme of a united world ldquoWhen children sing and they understand the meaning of these songs they imbibe the emotions naturallyrdquo Dastur remarks For the last six weeks the children from the junior middle senior and youth choir of the Foundationrsquos Singing Tree Choir along with their string ensemble and instrumentalists have been in preparation ldquoWe will be singing in eight languages including Hindi Maori German Spanish and Frenchrdquo she shares The two concerts at NCPA and St Andrewrsquos Auditorium saw close to 100 children on stage some as young as six years oldSalome RebelloThe Mumbai choir has been accompanied by the visiting Ulmer Spatzen choir from Germany Conductor and director Salome Rebello has been here before ldquoI started here at MMMF 20 years ago as a choir conductor Later I travelled to Israel and did my Masters in music before eventually moving to Germanyrdquo Rebello revealsFor those who find the name of Ulm familiar a certain Albert Einstein was born there But the choir is an important part of its culture Rebello adds ldquoThe choir organisation has 220 children with the flagship youth choir accounting for 45 Of these 29 are travelling with usrdquoConducts the Singing Tree choir and the Ulmer Spatzen choirBuilding up the songsOne of the key elements of these performances has been the compositions The pieces focus on the theme of unity Among these are A la puerta del cielo a Spanish folk lullaby Die Forelle by Franz Schubert Choral hymns from Rigveda by the 19th century composer Gustav Holst Ma navu based on Hebrew text by Yossi Spivak and the surprising Yaaron Dosti sung famously by the late KK arranged by RebelloSalome RebelloldquoI wrote that composition when he KK passed away in 2022 When I knew we were visiting I reworked it into a more complex piece to suit the talentrdquo We wonder if Hindi was a challenge for the choir from Ulm ldquoThey loved it Thatrsquos the thing about singing in a choir You learn to adapt to the sound the pronunciation of the wordsrdquo he points outOver to ColabaThe historytinted stainedglass windows and walls of the Afghan Church makes for an exciting venue for both choirs Dastur admits ldquoAt the Foundation we believe that children must be aware of their heritage It will be great if the choir can help in some way towards the restorationrdquo Dastur shares adding that they will have an offering box at the concert for donorsZubin Mehta addresses the children at the NCPA concertRebello notes ldquoI am curious to know how it will sound at the church While we will have fewer songs the church was built specifically for choral performancesrdquoIs the preparation different then we wonder ldquoTo be honest we will go there a couple of hours early for dress rehearsals Maybe we will play around with positioning or the voices based on the echo but sometimes all you need to do is singrdquo the Germanybased conductor saysThe children have already met one icon of the city in conductor Zubin Mehta who was present at the NCPA performance last week ldquoIt was such a delight He took time to speak with the children and they were in the element to perform for himrdquo Dastur recalls Now it is time they took a look at another in ColabaAlso Read Zubin Mehta in Mumbai My life conducting orchestra is like a molten lava it never stopsON August 28 7 pmAT Afghan Church Navy Nagar Colaba Entry First comefirst serveFREE