Rhythm Divine

The group,which has been together for the last three years as part of “the biggest high school group in Houston”,have been trained in western classical vocal tradition. “We have a 160-member group from which nine are shortlisted as the elite singers and we are lucky to be among those nine,” says Aquino. The group has performed at several venues across America,including Houston,Boston,Los Angeles and New Orleans and also been a part of Texas Renaissance Festival. “We have been selected for the Texas All-State Choir multiple times,” says Singh,originally from Chandigarh,who plans to bring in an Indian flavour with ‘Dilruba’,an instrument that is a cross between the sitar and sarangi. “Indian classical music helps me reach out to God more meaningfully than Western gospel music. Dilruba plays the rhythm well and so we want to try fusion with it,” Singh says. The group will be performing a variety of music from their repertoire,from opera to a-cappella renditions of contemporary songs. “A-cappella music is a relatively uncommon genre in India and we want to popularise it,” says Lach. The genre will be introduced at their solo performance at the India Habitat Centre,Delhi.

With all the members aged between 16 to18 years of age,the members “now want to pursue majors in music,” says Aquino,who wants to do opera. As of now,the group is happy appreciating Indian classical and Punjabi music and enjoying a tour to Amritsar,Ladakh,Delhi and Agra before flying back to USA.

The choir will perform at the Punjab Kala Bhavan,Sector 16,Chandigarh,on July 27 and at the India Habitat Centre,Delhi,on August 5.