THE Manama Singers, one of the kingdom’s most iconic community institutions, is celebrating its golden jubilee this weekend with a blast from the past.
The choir started from humble beginnings when avid choral singer Keith Bickle came up with a plan in the early 1970s to spread a little joy and happiness over the festive season across Bahrain.
Fifty years on, the 82-year-old founder has touched down in the kingdom to wave his baton once again during the Manama Singers sold out Christmas celebration at the Dilmun Club tomorrow.
“I’m really excited about tomorrow’s concert and for being back here,” said Mr Bickle, who is staying as a welcomed guest with alto member Anne Aljalahma and her family in Saar.
“It’s fun to see that the music-making has survived,” he added. “It never occurred to me that the Manama Singers would be an ongoing institution. I launched it for the pleasure of doing it and providing a service, particularly over Christmas.”
The Manama Singers were born in 1972 shortly after Mr Bickle’s arrival. His initial aim was to fill the gap left by the defunct Elizabethan Singers, Juffair Singers and Muharraq Choral Society who had left the island with the departure of the British forces in 1971.
“After everyone left there weren’t any more concerts,” explained Mr Bickle. “That’s when I thought, well, we aren’t having any of that!
“The main rule when we started was that we were not going to audition people. If you were interested in singing you could come along and join in. If you liked it, you could stay. It worked and it still works even today.
“Everyone was very good about learning their parts and when we started doing things that were more complicated the members would organise rehearsals for themselves to work on the notes.
“Everyone was really enthusiastic and I’m happy to see that people in Bahrain still are.”
Although Mr Bickle left the island in 1979, only returning once before to visit friends in 2010, the Manama Singers carried through good times and bad, with conductors coming and going.
They included Richard Chalkley, who directed almost every Christmas concert from 1988 to 1998. At one stage, Alistair Auld assembled 141 singers and a 33-strong orchestra to perform Handel’s Messiah in 2009.
However, when the Manama Singers played a concert in Manama in 2017, one reviewer sadly noted: ‘There were almost more of the choir than audience’. Its famed ‘wall of sound’ had become little more than a whimper and it looked like the end of the road was beckoning after 45 years, she reported.
Five years on, The Manama Singers have bounced back, inspired by Jo Diciolla after she took over the musical director’s role just a year after joining the choir. Today, the group boasts a 50-strong musical force featuring members of an array of nationalities including British, French, German, Indian, Italian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Swiss, American and more, from all walks of life.
“Over the years, the concerts have developed into a pleasant mixture of well-known carols and songs,” said Manama Singers chairman and university lecturer Charles Price, from Janabiya, who joined in 1977 as a bass singer.
“There are old and new ones from various traditions plus a few surprises such as one number performed in medieval Spanish!”
Other festive tunes and carols on the menu tomorrow include renditions of Merry Christmas Everyone and From the Distant East, as well as pieces from world music.
Musical director Ms Diciolla will be conducting the choir and Mr Bickle has been invited to take up his baton too for a touch of golden jubilee nostalgia.
“I’m very excited to be able to get up there and do it again,” Mr Bickle said enthusiastically. In recent days he has watched the Manama Singers perform at a festive engagement as well as during the weekly Tuesday rehearsal and said: “They are in really fine voice!”
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