Avanada Nee, Neeyada Adhu!!! - Prax.

Music with a difference (The Hindu, Metro Plus - Thursday - Feb-05 '09)
A male quartet shows the way, writes T. SARAVANAN
Photo: T. Saravanan

Dedicated lot (From left to right) R.Jeyakumar, Prasanna Stanely, S. Justus and K.V. Vijaya Prakash, perform for a cause
“But bright Cecilia raised the wonder higher; When to her organ vocal breath was given, An angel heard, and straight appeared, Mistaking earth for heaven.” “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day” by John Dryden (1687)
The verses of John Dryden, the 17th century poet of the Restoration Period, flash in your mind when you hear “The Chordiels” sing ‘A capella’, vocal music without instrument accompaniment).
The male quartet ‘The Chordiels’, led by S Justus is different because usually there is a pair of male and female voices in any quartet. But here, all four are males.
It all started when Justus met like-minded individuals with “religious music as the base” in a Church.
“Our music knowledge is restricted to Western classical. The seed was sown at a meeting, where we shared our thirst to achieve something different in the field of music and it led to the birth of ‘The Chordiels’,” says S. Justus, who is an assistant professor at K.L.N. College of Information and Technology.
The male lead - As the suprano – the male lead of the quartet, Justus has a good knowledge of music and plays the keyboard with élan. He composes the music as well.
“We started with A capella singing. Now we sing to several other music tracks, most of them being my compositions,” he says.
Sharing the view, K.V. Vijaya Prakash, who is the bass singer of the quartet, feels that singing in harmony is never an easy task. “Unless you understand your partners you may not be able to deliver the goods. You should be able to read the mind of your fellow singer to match the voice. I enjoy this challenging task,” he beams with pride. Mr. Vijaya Prakash is the programme In charge at Helpage India.
Businessman R.Jeyakumar, is the tenor of the quartet while Prasanna Stanely, who works as a part-time music teacher, is the alto.
“People really like us for sheer presentation. I have been into music for so many years and also sang for many choirs but it gives me immense satisfaction and lot of scope for improvisation while singing in harmony,” says Mr.Prasanna Stanley, who is also an expert in playing violin.

Overwhelming response
The rousing reception by people to their performances encouraged them to shift their focus from religious music to Western contemporary. Most of their programmes are charity based.
“We have performed in old age homes, churches and also for Leprosy Mission of India, Manamadurai. During Christmas time, we do a lot of charity,” Mr. Justus lists.
Normally, during the Christmas carols people from every Church visit the member of the parish and collect money for the Church development work but in their case, during their carol rounds they visit houses and present gifts to them. Besides, they also help people in old age homes and orphanages.
“During festival season we visit people struggling to live and entertain them. From the proceeds of our performances we have created a common fund, with which we buy gifts,” he says.
They have also released an audio CD ‘Yesuvin Pathathil’ recently, which has been received well. Now, they have also created a website www.thechordiels.com and have released an e-magazine.
“As we sing in harmony, we also want to promote the idea of ‘live in harmony’. The e-magazine deals with health-related issues, provides tips on lifestyle apart from music and impressive collections” says Mr. Justus.
The group has earned a good reputation and gets invited to functions all over the State.
Time immemorial it has been proved that no other musical instrument can match the perfection of a sculpted voice and truly ‘The Chordiels’ stand testimony.