By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, April 7, 2020: A group of priests, who call themselves the Twelve Band and based in cities around the world, on April 5 night, came out with a musical video in solidarity with the nation’s fight against Covid-19.
The video titled ‘Oru Mezhuthiri Paattu’ (A Candle Song) shows 24 priests singing the Malayalam version of Cardinal John Newman’s ‘Lead Kindly Light’ with lighted candles.
The music video was made in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the nation to switch off electrical lights and light candles and lamps for nine minutes at 9 pm on March 5. The video has now gone viral
The video has gone viral on social media since then.
The priests – all members of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam — sang the song beside a lighted candle based in Vienna, Rome, New York, Paris, Southampton, Innsbruck, Allahabad and Bengaluru, apart from towns in Kerala.
The video ends with Archbishop Antony Kariyil, episcopal vicar of the Syro-Malabar archdiocese, singing two lines from a 1972 Malayalam film song, “To heal the world, open thine eyes, Oh, lamp of love.”
The footage of each priest was shot separately in their countries. They were later mixed at Kaloor Renewal Centre in Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital.
Kochi-based Father Jacob Koroth, who plays the drums, the priests are singers. “We usually compose such songs when we come together. But since we are facing a lockdown due to the pandemic, we thought about bringing out a song by lighting a candle of prayer through music from wherever we are.”