Malaysian School Choir Enthrals German Audiences

By Manik Mehta FRANKFURT, March 14 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian school choir, currently visiting Germany, has enthralled German audiences with its rendering of singing. The choir of four boys and 10 girls performed at the Musik-und Singschule of Heidelberg and, again, at the Gymnasium (Germany’s version of a grammar school) in Neckargemund. The visit of the school choir from the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seafield of Subang Jaya, Selangor, comes as an opportunity to promote the people-to-people contact and create lasting friendship that helps foster personal ties. Speaking at a dinner hosted by Malaysia's Senior Trade Commissioner in Germany, Mohd Sabri Abd Rahman, here on Monday night, the school's principal Zaleha Abu Hasan said that she and her colleagues had brought the choir to expose its young members to Germany. "We encourage our school children to see and experience things in other parts of the world. Such exposure will help them in pursuing their niche areas,” she told Bernama in an interview. The school choir is paying a return visit to Germany in response to a similar visit to Malaysia by a choir group representing the Musik-und Singschule of Heidelberg. The message of the choir "Menyanyi Berpadu" (Bonding Through Singing) has gone down well with the Germans. The Malaysian school choir group -- except for some basic logistics support from the Goethe Institute and the German Ministry of Family, Youth and Women, and some assistance provided by Malaysia’s corporate sector -- organised the entire trip on its own, with parents of the choir members raising the money for the trip. The choir’s performance was also witnessed by Dr Joachim Gerner, the Heidelberg mayor for family, social affairs and culture, and Malaysian consul general in Frankfurt John Samuel, both of whom were reportedly pleased with it. Reflecting upon her visit, Zaleha said that the "people in Germany have been warm and sincere." "They were impressed by the show, the costumes, singing, and so on," she said. She narrated about an incident when an elderly German couple, who had lived in Malaysia for seven years, made it a point to come to the choir’s performance in Heidelberg after reading about it in the engagement columns of a local newspaper. Zaleha and her staff, who expressed "deep gratitude" to Sabri and his wife, a school teacher, saw "great potential" for Malaysian choir groups to perform overseas and also contribute to promoting Malaysia’s relations with the countries they visit. "Groups like ours can generate tremendous goodwill abroad but we also need assistance to send our groups abroad. We are also interested in giving performances before a German audience in Malaysia, provided we get help from the German mission there," she said. --BERNAMA