MBS Youth Choir celebrates 35 yrs

Thiruvananthapuram: Thirty five singers will come together on stage to sing celebrated songs in the Indian choral music genre on August, 6, to mark the 35th anniversary of city based MBS Youth Choir. In memory of legendary South Indian music director M B Sreenivasan, his closest friend Sharmaji formed the MBS Youth Choir in 1988. As a part of the 35th anniversary, civil supplies minister G R Anil will be honouring sound artist Tennyson, one of the pioneers of MBS since 1988.MBS Youth Choir consists of 50 singers who have the affinity to sing in different Indian languages. The songs focus on promoting messages of peace, patriotism, secularism, national integration, environmental protection, and human rights. They also have a children's choir with the motive of encouraging patriotism. “M B Sreenivasan coordinated a choir program during the National games back in 1987. Also, he had done programmes in all 14 districts. After he died in 1988, my father came up with the idea of the MBS Youth Choir group in memory of his beloved friend. Finally, on 7th August 1988, the official inauguration was done. The choir consists of members who have been there since the beginning. In future auditions, we are planning to set an age limit between 15-40 years,” Ashok Sharma, son of Sharmaji and project coordinator of the MBS Youth Choir said. The choir group have done several public outreach programmes such as ‘Music for Education’, ‘Healing touch of Music’, in association with the department of education, cultural affairs, and social justice. “There exist some memorable moments in our musical journey, one such was with children in Nirbhaya homes in the city. Six of our teachers went to four centres and taught them music. With the director's permission, we made them perform in a public function,” Ashok said. The future focus of the choir will be on conducting more outreach programmes, especially for the upliftment of underprivileged children across 14 districts. “We have been supported financially by the department of cultural affairs. With their support, we are heading towards new projects regarding the development of patriotism among children,” Ashok added.
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