Chennai Children’s Choir raises funds for US trip

Started in 2015, the Chennai Children’s Choir purposed itself to work with children from deprived backgrounds and create a platform for them to achieve something bigger. “Any child with talent can blossom with right training and mentoring. That was our objective,” said Sriram, Founder and Director of Nalandaway Foundation, which started the choir. Reminiscing the early days, Sriram said, “We auditioned 800 children studying in Corporation-run or government-aided as well as private schools. Those children with talent were chosen and trained. The choir had performed across the country last year.”

Quite by chance, Sriram came across the Serenade International Choral Festival, conducted in partnership with Kennedy Centre, and applied to the programme. “After much back and forth, we were selected and that’s when it hit us – that we had to raise the resources. Following that, we had two challenges – we had to ensure that our children can sing at that level. Then, we had to raise the funds, not only for air tickets but visas and other logistics,” recalled Sriram.

An online fund-raising attempt began to raise Rs 35 lakh to ensure the 22-member choir can perform at US’ capital city. “Within 24 hours, we raised Rs 8 lakh – it was incredible,” said Sriram, adding, “In less than two months, the team raised Rs 33 lakh. The team will leave on June 20.”

This year’s festival celebrates the centenary birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela with themes of peace and the Choir will sing compositions from various Indian musical traditions – compositions by Meera, Tyagaraja, Annamacharya, Subramanya Bharati, Rabindranath Tagore, and Amir Khusro, rendering these masterpieces in Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Urdu and Marwari. “For those aged between nine and 17, this performance will be an opportunity not only to boost their self confidence but also make them role models in their communities,” said Sriram.