On the occasion of Amabile Choirs of London, Canada’s 35th anniversary of singing, Toronto composer, Hussein Janmohamed was commissioned by Primus to write a piece that would celebrate all that we have to be thankful for in this world. The original intent was to premiere this piece at thier anniversary concert on May 9th but due to Covid lockdown, concert was canceled. However, the issue of the pandemic actually allowed the group to step outside the normal parameters and routines of learning a new piece to develop a performance piece that emerged collaboratively among the composer, the singers, and artistic directors, Carol Beynon and Mark Payne.
The melodic material draws on diverse Indic and Persian expressions of love found within the Ismaili tradition globally. The tune of the prayer, Shukranlillah Al-hamdulillah (Thanks and praise be to God) comes from Iran and the melodic fragments in the voices are adaptations and new formulations of raga-based Indic Ismaili ginan, hymns of love, praise and knowledge. Click here to learn more about this wonder piece.
Ismailimail 