HOW INDIANS SING THEIR CHRISTMAS SONGS

If you have been to any Church in India around Christmas, chances are that you would have heard choirs singing a few songs in praise of the Lord in some regional language.

While for most people in India, Christmas music continues to be Silent Night, Jingle Bells and Mary’s Boy Child, what of those songs that we sometimes hear, but know little about? “From what I have heard, most of the Indian Christmas songs are copies of the Western classics. But I would say there is very little of even that,” says Neil Nongkynrih, who founded the critically acclaimed Shillong Chamber Choir (photo below) in 2001.

The Choir’s Christmas album, released in 2011, was a bestseller. But Nongkynrih says that they had stuck to the traditional carols – Rudolf, O Little Town of Bethlem, Mary’s Boy Child…

“In churches in India that I have been to, I have heard spiritual music in the regional languages, but not Christmas songs,” he repeats.

Even abroad, he says, Christmas music continues to be traditional. “There is a market. If some composer was to record a new album, it would probably sell. But few try. We hear the same traditional songs,” he says, adding, “one reason for this can be that Christmas celebrations are all about keeping up the traditions. And because it is a once-in-a-year occasion, we don’t mind hearing the same songs again and again.”

In India, he says, some of the best Church choirs he has heard are of the Mizos and the Nagas. “There is a strong Church culture in these places. The choir practises every Sunday, if not during the week too. So they are very good,” he says.