Manama Singers, one of Bahrain’s oldest multicultural community choirs, is set to stage the kingdom’s first virtual concert, bringing creative talents across the island together as one voice.

The Voices of Bahrain Virtual Choir will showcase the kingdom’s national anthem in a video that will be premiered online in the first week of May. 

Preparations for the digital event are underway, with remote rehearsals scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Currently 45 participants, including Manama Singers’ members and other local choirs like YMCA and RCSI Medical University of Bahrain Choir have signed up.

According to Stefan Els, the group’s co-conductor alongside Jo Diciolla, anyone above 18 years with an interest in music can join the musical tribute.

“We have opened the programme to the community and hope to see a great turnout,” the South African expatriate told GulfWeekly.

“All they need to do is go on to our Instagram or Facebook pages

(@manamasingers) and drop us a comment and we can send them the details,” added the 34-year-old.

Talking about the inspiration for the idea, the Al Sayh resident, who has been living in Bahrain for the last six years, noted that people were interested to join the group’s online rehearsals, which sparked the idea for the event.

“Manama Singers had a couple of performances lined up, which are on hold due to the current situation. However, we have continued to rehearse online,” he explained.

Since the Iranian attacks began a month ago, large public gatherings have been discouraged to ensure safety, pushing many local creative groups to shift their meetings to virtual platforms.

“I know that a lot of the choirs have stopped meeting. We wanted to get as many people involved. And because the majority of our members are expats, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity show how much Bahrain means to us. That is why we chose the national anthem. We did not want to limit it to just Manama Singers. We felt that there are many people out there who love music and we wanted to collaborate with them,” he said.

The first rehearsal held on Tuesday had 20 singers join from around the world including one former member from Japan. This was in addition to the Bahrain-based singers.

The Bahrainis helped the others with the pronounciation of the words.

Stefan explained that each ‘group’ (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) has its own guide track. Participants first video record themselves singing from their location after which the individual tracks are synced to produce the final result.

“I have created a video recording of me conducting the parts so it is almost like a live scenario where they’re in the choir and they’re watching a conductor.

“Before we record the voice part, we do a ‘sync clap’, which will help our editors align the videos easily,” added the creative, who also conducts RCSI Medical University of Bahrain Choir.

Bahraynunā (‘Our Bahrain’) was originally composed in 1942, making Bahrain one of the first Arab countries to adopt a national anthem.

The lyrics were added in 1985 and have been amended since.

 

Bahraynunā translation

Our Bahrain

Our King

A symbol of harmony

Its constitution

is high in the place and the position

Its charter is the way of Shari’a, Arabism, and values

Long live the kingdom of Bahrain!

Country of nobles,

Cradle of peace,

Its constitution is high in the place and the position Its charter is the way of Shari’a, Arabism, and values

Long live the kingdom of Bahrain!