Carol singers spread festive cheer in Navi Mumbai

Christmas is just around the corner, hence various Christian associations and parishes are preparing in full swing for the same. Whether it is choirs at parishes or even various religious groups, everyone has started practising. With choir groups carolling from one home to another, the happy times have already begun for Navi Mumbai. Here are some choirs from the city who will make this Christmas more melodious.
The choir group at Our Lady of Visitation Church, Nerul, has been practsing since the past few weeks. “We will have the children’s choir group who would be singing before the mass begins. They will sing well-known Christmas carols which everyone enjoys listening to. In fact, the children’s choir of the parish bagged the first place in the 7th Christmas Inter-Church Choir Singing Competition at YMCA, Belapur. It was organised by the Bombay YMCA Navi Mumbai branch in Belapur on the 14th of December. “The group sang a medley of traditional and new carols like O little town of Bethlehem, Ding dong merrily on high, Sing Allelu, Go tell it on the mountain, all of which were sung in voices, ending with the song Jingle bell rock,” says Fr Moses Dantas, the parish priest.
The choir is being trained by Dionne Gonsalves, a piano teacher from Nerul, and has children in the age group of 8-18 years. They have been winning choir competitions for the past four years and the latest win is another feather in the cap of the children’s choir.
Meanwhile, there are three choir groups in the Little Flower Church in Nerul. One consists of the elders, the other one of the youth and finally, school children. While the groups practise alternatively every Sunday, there are special practices for Christmas. The three groups come together to become one common group consisting of 30 members for the Christmas. “Our choir is being led by TS John, and we would be starting this year’s carols with an old Malayalam devotional song sung by Yesudas and another special song for the communion. Half an hour before the mass, popular English carols like Silent Night, Mary’s boy child, Jingle Bells, etc. will be sung," says Bea Thomas, Assistant Choir Master.
The church has 25 choir groups who sing night carols at parishner’s homes at the respective units across Nerul and Sanpada, before Christmas.
Formed in 2004, Divine Ragas is popularly known among the Orthodox Christian youth and is primarily a band. Some of the singers in this group double up as instrumentalists, lyricists and composers for the band. Says Ester Susie Joshua, a choir member, “The group initially was led by the able guidance of Rev Fr Laby George and thereafter, continued under the encouragement of Rev Fr Aswin Fernandis, Rev. Fr.Thomas Mathai and Rev Fr Jacob Anish Varghese — their collective aim being the improvisation and development of the liturgical and gospel music of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Churches in the Bombay Diocese. We are an open group that endeavours to attract and encourage participation of youth in various church activities. We have been performing at several places in Navi Mumbai including the Epworth Methodist English Church in Nerul and at the St Mary’s Church, Vashi.”
You can catch them live in action, at the Kerala Christian Committee’s Union Carols evening at the St. Mary's School Ground, Sector 10, Vashi, Navi Mumbai.