The Madras Musical Association has won top honours at the fourth Asia Pacific Choir Games held in Colombo on October 22 and 23.

The association won gold and silver in two different categories at the inter-culture fest `Nterkultur’.

The MMA, founded in 1893, is the longest surviving Western music organisation east of the Suez performing and propagating this classical music here. It has a 90-member choir which performs a wide array of music ranging from Western classical and jazz to pop and gospel. The MMA is governed by an executive committee whose patron is the Tamil Nadu Governor.

The choir performed in the Sydney Opera house, the Olympic Games 2000, BBC and to a Papal audience in Vienna. It has staged musicals like `Fiddler on the Roof’, `The King and I’,`South Pacific’ and various hits from Western musicals.

Stalwarts like L Subramaniam and Handel Manuel have passed the portals of MMA.

Its present conductor is Agustine Paul who has a diploma from the Trinity College, London, and has worked in studios as a conductor and arranger with the greats like Ilayaraja and AR Rehman. Of late, the choir has been performing hits from the Beatles, ABBA and songs of Michael Jackson.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own.

(The author of the column is Joseph Ratnam, freelance writer)