Ragas from Shillong

Neil Nongkynrih, the mastermind, has a few aces up his sleeve.
Neil Nongkynrih, the 44-year-old concert pianist and the man behind the mesmerizing 21-member Shillong Chamber Choir (SCC), is all excited to be performing on Monday at Bishop Cotton Boys' School as part of the Christmas concert. After all, the Choir will be performing in the city after 11 years.He's come a long way from the days when his bureaucrat father dissuaded him from studying music. More about that later. Nongkynrih is single-handedly responsible for forming one of India's foremost choir groups which has also had the privilege of performing for President Barack Obama during his visit to India in November 2010.Nongkynrih recalls their performance that evening: “Apparently, Nirupama Rao, (the then Indian Ambassador to the United States), was trying to signal to the choir to extend our performance. She had even tried reaching me on my cellphone. Luckily, the phone was switched off. Otherwise, it would've been embarrassing to have my phone ringing on stage. In 2010, SCC won the reality contest, India's Got Talent, and became a household name. However, they had a very humble beginning.When “Uncle Neil“, as his group calls him, returned to India in 2001, after having lived in Europe for 13 years, he felt not enough was being done with the talent from the North East. “It's like having good ingredients, but not having someone to put it all together,“ he says. One evening, he decided to get a group together to lead the young “with good voices, but no direction“. Word spread quickly, and soon, Nongkynrih, who had started the choir with “no ambitions“, found himself with a group of 40 enthusiasts.They'd get together to practice on Friday night, and perform one or two local shows a year. All that changed when Nongkynrih decided that his choir would try their luck at a reality show. Little did he know that it would change their entire course. First off, they had to trim the choir to 12 to take part in the show.“We needed a dedicated team which was going to make music their sole profession and were willing to travel extensively,“ says the maverick musician, who has studied music at Trinity College and Guildhall School of Music in London. Winning the competition catapulted them into the limelight yet Nongkynrih refused to sign a contract with the management company to record for their label as that “would have made us products... you're not free to do anything else.“ The gambit worked as the choir was requested to perform for the Obamas soon after. Back in the 80s, when Nongkynrih wanted to pursue a degree in music, his father wasn't impressed. “Like most fathers, he wanted me to consider a mainstream career. After all, those days, those who got into western classical music either ended up playing at a club or became a piano teacher.“ But his mother, the “adventurous“ of his two parents, encouraged him. Nongkynrih made all arrangements to pursue music in the UK, but did not inform his father of his decision.A week before his travel, his father got to know of the plans and was understandably upset. “Nonetheless, he gave me the numbers of his friends and asked me to call them if I needed help or got into trouble,“ Nongkynrih recalls. Today, Nongkynrih's 84year old father (fondly called Grandpa by the rest of the choir) is present at most of his performances, seated in the first row. Their two-hour performance on Monday in the city will see them perform even some Carnatic music (which Nongkynrih has composed with Zakir Hussain) and rock music, among other classic carols. After all, Nongkynrih's choir can sing classical favourites as easily as Bollywood numbers. “Until you reach the summit of Mount Everest, you won't know whether the risk you took was worth it. And we don't wish to restrict ourselves to a particular genre. We're here to break barriers through music.“ Interestingly, while the SCC is associated with the North East, not many know that their team includes a five-member band from Chennai. And the choir's practice sessions happen over Skype. When it comes to big budget performances (like their upcoming show in January, which is likely to be a three-four city tour), they team up with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. “It's ironic how the whole group has come together,“ he muses. Two days of the week, Nongkynrih insists that the group prays together -“not for religious reasons; it's a matter of the heart...just how it is a custom in every household or church.“ After all, the family that prays together, stays together.