When these slum kids sing, the world listens

A musical initiative has given 37 teenagers from the Pune slums an opportunity to showcase their talent internationally by giving performances in countries like Korea and USA.

When Korean musician and choir conductor Kim Jae-Chang started grooming children from the slums of Bibvewadi, Marketyard and orphanages of the city to form the Banana Children’s Choir, he gave them a completely new outlook towards life. Today, they aim to reach higher through their creative pursuits, and are already performing at various programmes in the city after having learnt English, Hindi, Marathi and Korean songs.

Practice sessions for the choir are held in Undri every evening, where these underprivileged children gather to further their passion of singing. Dressed humbly while practicing, their uniform as a choir is a pleasant orange green ensemble.

An opera singer, Kim Jae-Chang, in 2010, took up the initiative to provide free, quality music education to impoverished children in the city. “We wanted to give hope and a lifelong aim with an opportunity to learn, which is not easily available to these children, so that they can become good leaders,” says Jeonhyung Lan, pianist of the group.

Chang has completed a similar project in Korogocho-Dandora in Kenya, where he set up a Jirani Children’s Choir in 2006. He has been travelling since, while his family has stayed back in Korea.

Abut how the name of the choir came about, Chang says that he had tried to convey his initiative in Hindi and had said “Choir banana hai” and that’s how the name Banana Children’s Choir was found.

The children learn music with Chang on all weekdays in the evenings from Monday to Friday, 5 pm to 6.30 pm with Chang’s team, which includes Lan the pianist and Christina the music trainer, who are both students of Western classical music.