Review:

Review: "This Is It" by Choro Calibre

Nov 26 2013.

Choro Calibre celebrated four successful years as a versatile youth choir and brought to life diverse genres of music of different eras on the 25^th of November at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre. The choir was accompanied by the band ‘Miracle’, led by Shamal and proceeds of the event were towards the Community Building Extension Project at All Saints' Church, Borella.

The CLASSICAL SEGMENT began on a dramatic note moving into Amazing Grace and an accapella rendition of the Lord’s Prayer. In the latter especially, owing to poor sound balance, the bass singer was heard separately and impeded the blend of voices at certain points.

This was followed by “You Raise Me Up”, a duet where the female voice was quite powerful but lacked power and choral quality overall, as a choir.

The Classical Segment was followed by the RETRO SEGMENT where numbers of the 70s and 80s with Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’, ‘Daddy Cool’ by Boney M and ‘D-I-S-C-O’ moved into ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’ by the Drifters, Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ and ‘Part Time Lover’ by Stevie Wonder. Renditions of the above songs often brought out a two-part harmony instead of four due to the imbalance in sound within the choir and the system.

The beginning of the songs weren’t clear cut and as powerful as it should’ve been. The latter half of the segment saw entertaining renditions of ‘Jail House Rock’, ‘La Bamba’, ‘Boogie Shoes’, ‘aadare hithenawa daekkama’ and ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ by the Beatles. Choral quality lacked and instead came across as covers of songs with a few harmonies heard at some points.

The COUNTRY SEGMENT stood out as they attempted to bring in a bit of comedy and theatre into the singing. However, the ‘explosion’ due to a ‘transfer of human and animal genes’ didn’t connect to the genre of music and in fact, shifted the focus of the audience slightly. The stage setting of a country-side pub was commendable as it was different to what the eye of the audience was accustomed to thus far and was tastefully done though the professor with a blackboard that had science formulae took away from the essence of the props.

The ETHNIC SEGMENT took spotlight soon after where Choro Calibre shone as a choir. The choir’s award winning ‘Wannam Medley’ marked the beginning of the segment while the handloom Kandyan Saris and Sarongs worn by the choristers, traditional drums and traditional Kandyan dance movement enhanced the performance. This genre certainly proved to be Choro Calibre’s forte!

The choir then transformed into silver and white with luminous wigs for the MODERN SEGMENT where they performed accapella renditions of ‘Gangnam Style’, the ‘Party Rock Anthem’ and others that defined the modern era of music. The choir however lacked the ‘oomph’ in their singing as harmonies clashed at certain points and there was poor synchronization in terms of sound, between the beat boxers and choristers.

The costumes however were commendable and three part arrangements of the selection of songs, unique too. The latter aspect would have been more pronounced if the choir blended more as a group and the sound was balanced.

The energy and enactment of well-known songs, such as ‘Hot Hot Hot’ by Arrow, ‘Quando Quando Quando’ and ‘Joanna Give Me Hope’ took spotlight in the DANCE SEGMENT. This segment was entertaining and got toes tappin’!

Overall, the concert was entertaining and managed to maintain the attention of the audience while the choir was on stage. Novel and varied choreography, colourful use of lights, the strong backup of the band ‘Miracle’ and detailed, glamorous costumes added to a formula of a good show. However, it didn’t meet the standard of an ‘ultimate choral concert’ as promised even on the backdrop of the stage.

The lineup of songs was commendable and the creative way of putting across the different genres and styles of music, enclosed within segments was indeed novel. Award winning performances of their journey thus far, at the ‘Asia Cantante’ and other prestigious events were showcased on video set standards high for the choir. The constant reminiscing of their past took a toll on time and left the audience awaiting more of the live performance of the choir.

Breaks between the segments that were marked by videos or performances by singers and dancers of the All Saint’s Church, Borella caused the concert to stretch till past 11 p.m. This was most inconvenient for the working crowd that attended the concert as it was a Monday and only the beginning of the week. The band ‘Miracle’ must be commended for their strong and professional instrumental backup provided for the choir. It is right to say that they created the platform and that too, a solid one: on which Choro Calibre took spotlight.

The Sponsors of “This Is It” were, TV Derana, Unique Sounds, ticket.lk, Paramount Print Pack, Torana Music, Chimes Solutions and Gold FM. The Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times were Print Media Sponsors for the evening.

COMMENTS

“Enjoyed it! I liked the country segment. Glad I came to the show!” – Carmen

“Quite entertaining. I liked the 80s segment especially. The music, dancing was good. The scientist scene didn’t make sense though. ‘Road to Victory’ was better.” – Nathasha

“It had a lot of creativity in it. I liked the Retro segment. The costumes are very well done. I think what defines them is their creativity.” – Sandamali

“Overall it was great. Traditional to modern, it was all nicely done. The Classical segment was good and was well organized. It was good relaxation too!” – Beverly

“It was good. Wish it was shorter because it’s a Monday. The quality of singing was good in the country segment. I think they should focus more on the singing and reduce the dancing.” – Debbie

By Sapthika Jacob