The World Choir Games is an international choir competition organised by INTERKULTUR and is open to all non-professional choirs. Held every two years, the World Choir Games is an opportunity for choirs, both with and without international competitive experience, to showcase their talent and get together with other musicians and choristers to appreciate and celebrate music. The competitors of the 10th World Choir Games consisted of over 16,000 singers from over 300 choirs representing more than 60 countries who gathered in Tshwane, South Africa earlier this month. One of the choirs that were in Tshwane representing Sri Lanka was The Soul Sounds Children’s Academy Choir who, having excelled at the Asia Pacific Choir Games in 2017, were able to win a silver and bronze medal for the children’s choir and scenic folklore categories respectively which enabled choirs from around the world to experience Sri Lankan talent.   

The academy

The Soul Sounds Academy is the brainchild of Soundarie David Rodrigo, a pianist and musician whose passion was to introduce the beauty of music to her students. As a result of her passion for music and her many experiences as a performer and as a student of the Royal College of Music London, she established this academy to promote all forms of music, especially choral music, and to give children the opportunity to perform both locally and internationally. The World Choir Games in South Africa was the third international competition that the children of the Soul Sounds Academy have participated in. They have also been given the opportunity to take part in competitions in Wales and Indonesia. Apart from allowing children of all ages to enter the world of music through singing, the Soul Sounds Academy also exposes its students to various other forms of music by teaching them to play instruments such as violin, piano and guitar.   

The Children’s Choir

Out of the many talented young musicians at the academy, 33 children were selected through intense auditions and were given the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the 10th World Choir Games in Tshwane as the Soul Sounds Academy Children’s Choir. These choristers had to fit into a tight schedule which had many practices. This was also a challenge for the teachers of this choir as they had to organise practices for children from many schools who all had various other activities to attend to. However, with the help of the teachers, the parents and the children themselves the Children’s Choir of The Soul Sounds Academy was able showcase their talent competing against the best.   As she was chosen to be a member of the Jury at the Choir Games, Soundarie was not able to conduct the choir as she normally would have done, but with the training she gave Dinushka Jayawickreme and Amandhi Caldera- two of the teachers in the vocal department of the academy- were able to bring the children to the present standard. Alongside their teachers, these wonderful young people were moulded by their artistic director Jerome De Silva together with veteran musicians Ramya de Livera Perera and Ravi Bandu Vidyapathy. With Soundarie in charge of picking the pieces to be sung and the overall music output, the team of teachers and instructors enhanced the music which the choir was performing.   

In South Africa

For the short time that they were in South Africa, the children were able to learn a lot from the other choirs and performances. Aside from taking part in the competition (which no doubt took up most of their time!), they had a fun-filled trip, which included a safari and sight-seeing. The children weren’t the only ones who had a learning experience in South Africa. As a member of the Judging Panel and as the Director of the Soul Sounds Children’s Academy Choir, Soundarie was able to learn from her fellow Jury members who were not only extremely experienced and knowledgeable, but also friendly and non-hesitant in sharing their knowledge. This was reciprocated by Soundarie, who as a judge, was able to experience and appreciate the different programmes, genres and tone quality.   

Music in Sri Lanka

It is very obvious that the music industry in Sri Lanka is growing everyday and along with it,  are the choirs that contribute to this growth. With the Asia Pacific Choir Games that were held here in Sri Lanka last year, the many choirs of this country have come forward and showcased their talents and given confidence to other choirs as well as gaining confidence themselves. Soundarie, whose dream has been to start a children’s choir, believes that along with the Asia Pacific Choir Games and The World Choir Games, the choirs in Sri Lanka have raised their standards. She also believes that the choirs representing Sri Lanka at The World Choir Games in South Africa – The Soul Sounds Academy Children’s Choir and the Royal College Choir – have given all other Sri Lankan choirs the opportunity to dream big and work hard to achieve what they may have once thought was unthinkable.The pride which this team of musicians has brought Sri Lankas not only because of their medals but simply by their presence at the World Choir Games which was the product of many months of extremely hard work which included the cooperation of the children, parents and the teachers who had to work around involvements in school and at work. Further, all the sponsors involved in the months of preparation have also been influential in making this a reality.     

Totally pop with Soul Sounds!

Soul Sounds is not an unfamiliar name to the music lovers in this country. Having recently entertained people with a Midnight Concert, which featured classical music, they take the stage again, but this time to entertain us with all pop music. Their next show will be held at the Lionel Wendt on August 8 commencing at 7.30 pm.   
Mostly famous for their gospel music, the girls of Soul Sounds along with their musical director, Soundarie David Rodrigo, continuously challenge themselves and are keen to expand their skills when it comes to singing songs of various genres. This time those gathering at Lionel Wendt will get to hear the songs of artistes ranging from The Beatles to Coldplay and Elvis to Bruno Mars. Having selected pop as the main genre for this particular show, Soul Sounds will perform their rendition of songs produced between the 60’s and now. Targeting all music lovers and Soul Sounds fans, there is going to be an evening full of captivating performances.   

Soundarie, the leaders of Soul Sounds – Roshie Wickremaratne James and Nimaya Harris – and the other girls in the choir collectively decided on the songs on the list. With Dinesh Chandrasena as their creative designer, it promises to be a spectacular show.   

Soundarie will be assisted in music by Shane John on Drums, Pradeep Rodrigo on Bass, and Andrew Obeysekera and Dhanuksha Seneviratne on Keyboards. Soul Sounds’ exclusive sponsors for the night are Fairway Holdings and Dim.   

Tickets, priced at Rs. 2000, 1500, 1000, and 750 (Balcony), are now on sale at the Lionel Wendt.   
Totally Pop! Not to be missed!