Firdause Wadia on leading Mumbai’s Paranjoti Academy Chorus, music and future

Ms Wadia (left) conducts the choir with Firdause Wadia (third row, sixth from right). Pic Courtesy/Facebook

The music room of the Sir JJ Fort Boys' and Girls' High School in Fort echoes with vocal exercises as we walk in. Members of the Paranjoti Academy Chorus are spread across in a semi-circle as they read through sheet music at a weekend rehearsal. At the centre is their new conductor, Firdause Wadia, directing them through the loops. Wadia took over from someone who was inseparable from the city choir's identity, Coomi Wadia, in 2023. After his debut with the Christmas concerts in the city under his baton, Firdause is now preparing to take the choir to Goa.

As we watch, the conductor directs the a capella choir through the motions of a piece about the battle of Jericho. It might be the weekend, but there is no casualness to the rehearsal. "This is our two-week-break between the Christmas concerts and the upcoming Monte Festival," he shares. The festival marks the return of the choir to Goa after a span of 13 years. They will take stage on Sunday at St John The Baptist Church in Benaulim to perform 22 pieces in eight different languages. "That's why this is a marathon rehearsal - from 1.30 pm to 7 pm. Usually, we keep it short to three or four hours," the conductor explains. The Goa performance will be followed by a concert at the rededication of the Afghan Church, Mumbai - a regular venue - in March. The choir ranges from the age groups of 20 to 70-year-olds and diverse professions including doctors, lawyers and homemakers.

Firdause Wadia directs the rehearsal. Pic/Sameer Markande

Firdause Wadia is a South Bombay boy, raised in the city and has been a part of the choir for 17 years now. The choir is home, he says, adding, "The fact that all of us are here on a Sunday is proof of our passion. We also want to have fun doing it," he remarks. This is part of the heritage left behind by Coomi Wadia. The legendary conductor stamped her identity on one of the few a capella choirs in the country for over 50 years. "We are who we are because of her. When the committee and Mrs Wadia asked me to take over, I was very nervous," 41-year-old Firdause adds, "But I knew the repertoire, and had sung with the choir. From being a baritone soloist and bass singer in the choir, there is an innate sense of musicality which is my forte," he shares.

Coomi Wadia brought to the choir a finesse, he reveals. "She was so clear in her thoughts and the way she wanted us to sing. This has been her whole life. If you miss a note or don't sing it right, she would mock gently, ‘This is not the way it is supposed to sound. You are supposed to sing it, not bring your own accent'," he recalls. This sense of fun and playfulness is evident at the rehearsal. The tenors rib the altos about missing a note, and there are playful jests about accents that lighten up the mood. "Singing is fun. It has to be. You can't feel like it is an arduous task," Firdause points out.

An a capella rehearsal is an experience of its own. Often a concert hides the distinct movements of the human voice. We cannot help but admire the rise and fall of voices and the tones moving in sync. The medium is an exposed one, he informs us, adding, "When you are accompanied by a piano or an instrument, you can cling on to them. But with a capella, you are the instrument." Not an easy task, and even more stressful when you consider his other job as associate vice president at Sony Pictures Networks, India. "You have to do the best with the time you have," he tells us. Spare time on the weekdays is spent watching videos, listening to orchestral pieces and conducting techniques, Firdause admits.

He conducts the choir on their Christmas 2023 concert in the presence of Coomi Wadia at St Thomas Cathedral in Fort

"We are a working choir. Everyone here has a day job. But they are all here for the love of the choir and the music. I am lucky that I am allowed to practise my passion for music," he tells us. It started early as a five-year-old with a recorder and xylophone, before violin and piano classes. "My mother recognised that I had an inclination towards music and signed me on with the late Meher Madon Jenson," the conductor shares. After graduating in engineering, he moved to Pune, but the love for music brought him back. "I would attend choir rehearsals on weekends with my mother, but it was around 2008 when I first performed with them for a recital of The Pearl Fishers. That was the moment," he says.

Does a choir also face a takeover quite like the corporate world, we ask? He chuckles, "I am simply carrying the legacy forward. While there is a direction you want to take the choir forward, you also have to listen to the choir. They have an instinctive understanding of the music." With access to a repertoire over 60 years, every concert feels new, he tells us. As we leave them, the choir is already busy with the next hymnal. The page has turned.

On: February 4; 6 pm
At: St John The Baptist Church, Benaulim, Goa.