Culture abounds – The Peacemakers

On 17th and 18th February, the Auroville Choir, Youth Choir and Instrumental Ensemble combined their formidable forces to present extracts from Karl Jenkins’ The Peacemakers. The Peacemakers is a choral work which, in Jenkins’ words, “is dedicated to the memory of all those who lost their lives during armed conflict”. The seventeen movements set to music texts from ‘messengers of peace’ that extol and evoke the essence of peace. The ‘messengers’ include figures like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Rumi as well as extracts from the Bible and the Qur’an.

This is the second time that the Auroville choirs have performed extracts from the piece, the intention being to perform the full work next year to celebrate Auroville’s 50th birthday. Last year, one of the performances was somewhat marred by a misbehaving microphone, but this year the full texture of the music could be appreciated.

While, in some ways, Jenkins’ is a traditional composer, he experiments with many different instruments and sound effects. The music ranges from the hauntingly mellifluous Healing Light: a Celtic Prayer to the insistent chant rhythms of Let There be Justice for All to the thrilling conclusion, ‘Anthem: triumphant peace’. At times, perhaps, Jenkins compositions do not fully evoke the innermost qualities of some of the passages he chooses but, in compensation, his music has both a lyricism and a dynamism that is a source of inspiration.

The Auroville Choirs, under the directorship of Nuria, have matured since last year. The various layers and textures of the music emerge more readily now and, while the high registers still appear a little thin, the basses are a wonderful foundation. The Instrumental Ensemble, directed by Matthew Littlewood who also composed two original pieces as bridge passages, provided a beautiful accompaniment, weaving in the various ‘voices’ of flute, keyboards, piano, double bass and percussion, as well as some more exotic instruments.

More than anything else, the sight of over one hundred Aurovilians of all ages singing and making music together, was an incredibly powerful evocation of human unity. It summed up what Jenkins, echoing the words of Rumi, the 13th century mystic poet, described as the defining ethos of the work,

‘All religions, all singing one song: Peace be with you.’