Metho Cantanti - a winning group

By Mahes Perera

Manique Abeyratne

It was the time of the year when with sheer delight you allow yourself to keep a date with young choral singers to enjoy carols and Christmas songs to put you in that happy singing mood.

Metho Cantanti was the group and to the many who turned up at the Taj Samudra three days before Christmas to enjoy their vocal harmony, it was a pleasant surprise.

Under the direction of Manique Abeyratne, Metho Cantanti delivered the goods with aplomb and left the audience wanting more.

The group opened its show with a forceful 'Joy To The World' and moved into the well known 'Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas'.

The purity of tone of the singers was displayed in the Christmas Lullaby.' There were many other selections, each one as equally good as the other in deliverance, which made you wonder, why didn't the Cantanti move in earlier with this repetoire.

By earlier I mean in the immediate years gone by. For those who missed their concert, the Cantanti sang the well-known 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, 'Carol of the Bells', 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Rudolph', 'All I want for Christmas is you', 'Mistletoe and Wine'.

Manique Abeyratne, the choral director with perfect intonation sang 'Let It Snow'. There were many more and the concert ended with a rollicking 'Felice Navidad'.

The singers sang with a lot of depth and feeling, their voices blended brightly and the solos turned out winners.

Their verbal enunciation was good and credit must go to Manique for keeping the chorale reigned in, and to Onitha for her untiring effort to present the show.

After the concert when we met Manique we learnt that some of the songs carried her own arrangement and they were 'Carol of the Bell', 'Mistletoe and Wine', 'Santa Claus is coming to Town, the medley starting with Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and Felice Navidad. All in all it was an enjoyable pleasant evening of Christmas songs and we hope in 2015 we can hear Cantanti again.

Question: You have moved into the limelight only recently and rightly should have shared the stage earlier with other choral directors, did you experience a program of vocal training before you launched in as a director? What were your beginnings like?

Answer: I was born into a musical family, and ever since I was a child I must confess, music ran in my blood. My father sings, my brother Sean Amarasekera sings - he took part in the Phantom of the Opera - my mum sings, and from childhood music has been a huge part of my life.

We were living in England and I belonged to a choir. When we came back in 1981 I joined Methodist College, Colombo and as schoolgirls we lived for the choir and the band. I trained with Kalasuri Lyle Godridge for 10 years, sang in his choir and performed too.

Q: Metho Cantanti is an attractive name for a choir whose brainchild was that?

A: We wanted a name that would reflect our school as well, give an immediate association with our school and the girls had their think-tanks working and we launched the choir in 2012. Anagi Perera started it in January 2012, I joined the choir in March of that year and in August she asked me to co-direct the choir.

Q: Was it a challenge for you when you started, because at that time choirs were springing up like mushrooms and no doubt competing with one another?

A: It was never our goal to compete. What brought us together was the love for music and love for the school.

We never thought of ourselves as competitors - we just wanted to have an outlet for our music. All of us expressed the fact that when we left school what we missed most was the singing.

So it was such a joy to come back as past pupils who share the same love for music and we are doing it as a voluntary act.

It's a strong bond that we have.Our choir comprises 40-45 singers.

The maximum we had in a show in June was about 30 girls. For out performance this season we had 14 singers. We usually sing in three part or four part harmony.

Q: How many choral appearances did Metho Cantanti have this season?

A: This year we did one for the past pupils of our school. Then we had a performance at the Cinnamon Lakeside and this one at the Taj Samudra.

Unfortunately we had to turn down a couple of events because of the lack of choristers.

Hopefully, in the course of the forthcoming year we will be to accept more choral events.

Q: Apart from seasonal favourites does the choir sing sacred music, contemporary songs and Broadway hits?

A: We took part in a show in June, it was a Methodist College show and we were guest artistes.

We sang contemporary music, we selected songs from the 70s, 80s 90s and even 2000s. We performed hits of Michael Buble, Katy Perry and One Direction - 'Story of My Life and Unconditionally and Journey's Don't Stop Believing.

Q: Is there an anti - Broadway feeling or a hestitancy to sing these songs from the musicals?

A: Not really. In the previous shows we did a medley of Abba hits, we've done Gospel medleys and sacred music.

We have a large variety fo songs that we sing. We mix the genres of music.

Q: Most of the choral groups in Sri Lanka work towards getting an opportunity to sing on foreign stages, or participating in international contests? Will you be working towards it?

A: So far no opportunity has come our way. If it does, then we have to check on the availability of the choristers and the requisite infra-structure.

As for competitions we have to consider it for the future. But I envisage the need for practice.

Q: In the meantime would you be planning to make a CD of the Cantanti? You could dialogue with the organist Neranjan de Silva on this issue.

A: I think we should have a CD for memories and I hope we could work this one out successfully.