The 10-year-old choir ‘The Bangalore Men’ returns with its sister ensemble, Cappella Bangalore, for two performances
CHRISTINE MACHADO
NT BUZZ
The Bangalore Men are no strangers to Goa. Having first performed in the state in 2016, the year the choir was founded, they have returned several times over the years, including for the Monte Music Festival in 2018. Now celebrating its 10th year, the all-male choir, founded and conducted by Swedish choir conductor Jonas Olsson, is bringing its special presentation, ‘Cathedral Windows’, to Goa.
The two performances, on November 7 at 5 p.m. at Our Lady of Penha de Franca Church, Penha de Franca and November 8 at 5 p.m. at Holy Spirit Church, Margao, will also mark the Goa debut of the choir’s sister ensemble, Cappella Bangalore.
The Bangalore Men began in 2016 with a specific musical vision. Olsson recalls, “When we started The Bangalore Men, I wanted to explore the enormous repertoire written specifically for male voices, from Renaissance polyphony through Schubert and Romantic music to composers such as Gustav Holst. Our first rehearsal had nine singers in the library at the Bangalore School of Music.”
Over the years, the choir’s repertoire has expanded to include works by Mozart, Beethoven and contemporary composers, among others. However, for Olsson, the emphasis is not merely on musical proficiency but also on the interpretation and expression of each composition. “We spend a lot of rehearsal time understanding the text, the phrasing and why one voice needs to come forward while another needs to disappear into the harmony. After all, if the singers do not understand or feel what they are singing, you cannot really expect the audience to feel it either,” he says.
The diversity of its repertoire also challenges the perception that choral music is static or old-fashioned. From Renaissance polyphony and classical compositions to choral hymns from the Rig Veda, the choir has explored a wide range of musical traditions, performing in churches, concert halls and art spaces.
In 2019, Olsson established Cappella Bangalore, a sister ensemble featuring mixed voices. He explains, “The Bangalore Men has a very particular identity and sound but there is a vast repertoire that requires mixed voices.”
The Goa presentation will bring the two ensembles together in ‘Cathedral Windows’. Explaining the concept behind the title, Olsson says, “Cathedral Windows is really an image for the experience we want to create. You can look through different windows and see something completely different through each one and the programme similarly moves across periods, composers and
musical traditions.”
First presented in Chennai in 2018, ‘Cathedral Windows’ has since been performed in different settings. “This is not about recreating an old concert. Each time we return to it, the repertoire, singers and spaces bring something new,” he adds.
For the Goa performances, the two choirs will sing both separately and together, accompanied by the organ. The choice of venues is also guided by Olsson’s attention to acoustics. “I am quite obsessive about acoustics because the room is effectively another instrument in a choral concert. For ‘Cathedral Windows’, we want that relationship between music, architecture and acoustics. The audience should hear the human voice itself interacting with the space,” he says, adding that with its churches, architecture and strong musical heritage, Goa offers an ideal setting for such performances.
Returning to Goa, however, also brings back fond memories for Olsson. At the choir’s first concert in the state, held at the Art Chamber in Calangute, he met the late Santiago Lusardi Girelli, then conductor of the Goa University Choir. What began as a chance meeting soon blossomed into friendship and several musical collaborations. “You remember the concert, of course but years later you often remember just as clearly the people you met, the conversations after the performance, the rehearsals, dinners and everything you experienced together along the way,” says Olsson. “Goa has given us quite a few of those memories, so it genuinely feels good to be back.”
