No . 135 The Trusty Servant
SANSARA
Tom Herring ( I , 07-12 ) tells the story of SANSARA , the choir he co-founded with fellow OWs Jack Butterworth ( Coll , 07-12 ) and Benjamin Cunningham ( K , 07-12 ; Co Ro , 19- )
On 16 th April 2013 , at a road-side buffet between Cali and Popayán in Colombia , a plan was hatched . As Jack and I navigated our chicken and potato broth with caution , we reflected on our time in Chapel Choir , reminiscing about our favourite musical moments and questionable choir tour antics . Somewhere on this journey , the idea to start our own choir surfaced and in December 2013 , SANSARA was born .
Six years earlier , I ’ d just reached the end of my first term as a Jun Man in Hopper ’ s . I was also in the div of renowned English don Michael Nevin , where I sat alongside musical colleague-to-be Ben Cunningham , and we listened to MRSN ’ s legendary recitals of Homer ’ s Iliad . Without the threat of life-defining examination , this strange new way of learning sowed seeds of cultural and creative curiosity , which grew in the following years and continue to fuel SANSARA ’ s work today .
Following the obligatory two-year stint in Michlā , Jack , Ben and I joined Chapel Choir and were reunited with music we had all sung as boys , learning the bass parts in confused adolescent voices . For me , this also meant returning to the choir stalls where I had sung as a Quirister , with Christopher Tolley as Choirmaster . The privilege of being fully enveloped in this choral tradition , with no breaks in the chain , never occurred to me at the time and is a sign of how complete the privilege was , and remains today .
Back in Colombia it was this privilege which began to dawn on us . On a previous trip to Bogotá as part of the College ’ s connection with Colegio Claustro Moderno , we had both experienced first-hand the unique capacity of music to transform the lives of disadvantaged young people , during a joint performance with Colombia ’ s Batuta Foundation ( the ‘ Colombian El Sistema ’). Inspired by this and our mutual love of choral music , we tried to unpack why - and if - choirs were important , what they could be , and what they could do : questions we still ask ourselves today .
The early years of the choir featured experiments in deconstructing the typical hierarchy of traditional musical ensembles , and the choir was often led by as many as four different conductors during a single concert , each stepping out from the choir to share their passion for a particular piece or simply having a go at conducting a group of like-minded peers . Without the financial pressures of running the professional choir we are today , these early projects were catalysts for our musical imaginations and were imbued with the same feeling of boundlessness we had been so fortunate to experience in those Flint Court div hours .
In 2015 , we won the London International A Cappella Choir competition and the following summer recorded our first full length recording , Cloths of Heaven , with a title track by our old choirmaster , Malcolm Archer , and a commission from the College ’ s current Head of Composition , Oliver Tarney . In the following years , the choir performed at several of the UK ’ s leading festivals and became a charity ( CIO no . 11799178 ), gradually evolving from student outfit into a professional chamber choir , made up of some of the country ’ s finest ensemble singers .
As for all arts organisations , the pandemic was an existential threat to the choir . At the same time , it has provided time for us to go back to the questions Jack and I asked ourselves on the road in Colombia , and to craft an ambitious vision to make choral music that matters , giving voice to powerful human stories .
Our recent work includes projects combining choral music with peerto-peer bereavement support and a collaboration with Syrian oud player Basel Saleh on themes of displacement and refuge ; future projects include performances of our latest album and a collaboration with the acclaimed Manchester Collective in 2024 .
SANSARA ’ s latest album - Traces - was listed as Editor ’ s Choice in a recent edition of Gramophone Magazine and is available to stream on all platforms . Find out more about the choir via their website www . sansarachoir . com or write to Tom on tom @ sansarachoir . com .
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