Marco Carvalho
“An extraordinary response to an extraordinary situation.” This is how Father Jijo Kandamkhulaty, director of the Macau subsidiary of the Claretian Publications, describes the first short film entirely conceived and produced by the Delegation of the Claretian Missionaries in East Asia.
The project “Togetherness – Linked in Adversity,” a video clip featuring a new song that conveys a message of hope in the face of the adversities arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, was developed in close collaboration with the Dioceses of Macau and Hong Kong.
Interpreted by Carl Chung, the music video brought together more than fifty musicians from neighbouring Hong Kong, Father Kandamkhulaty told O Clarim: “When the theme was fixed, a composer had to be found and Father Anthony Chan, the Vicar-General of Hong Kong Diocese came to the help and introduced the composer Mr Antony Cheng to me. I gave the basic frame of what the content of the song should be in English. It was he who contacted the lyricist Vansie Kuok who perfectly incorporated the ideas we discussed,” the Claretian missionary explains.
The idea of producing an original theme song that could boost the morale of the residents of the two Special Administrative Regions was welcomed both in Macau and across the Pearl River. The project – which enrolled the collaboration of more than fifty students from Good Hope School, one of the most prestigious music academies in Hong Kong – mobilized some well-known figures of the former British colony’s Church: “Although an initial video version of this song was prepared, finding the potential to reach out to more audience, we planned to produce a video with the bishops and priests and nuns of Hong Kong and Macau Dioceses together. Since the travel bans continued, we modified the plan to make separate videos in Hong Kong and Macau. In the Hong Kong version, Cardinal John Tong, Bishop Ha and some priests and nuns are featured,” Father Jijo Kamdamkhulaty explained. “In the Macau version, we added a little dramatic story in parallel to the song. The students from the School of Nations and members from Don Bosco Youth Centre acted in the video production. It was Mr Francisco Liu, the Director of the Cineteatro and the Social Communication Centre of Macau Diocese who transformed my skeletal screenplay into a movie with his expert videography,” Fr Jijo adds.
A man of culture, with a strong connection to music, Father Jijo Kamdamkhulaty has, over the past few years, been one of the main drivers of Cantata Macau, an event that has brought to the Special Administrative Region some of the best choral groups on the Asian continent. In 2020, the Cantata did not take place due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this year’s edition should follow the same path: “The pandemic has put to a halt a lot of good things in the world. Cantata Macau was one of those. It gathered about 300 participants from abroad every year. And when the international travels stopped, we had to suspend the event. However last year we engaged the choirs in an online version of the program open only to the participants. This year too, we are not likely to hold the event,” the Indian priest recognizes. “Music is good, but as entertainment. Governments, institutions, and individuals should be concentrating on giving livelihood for people. So this music festival can wait, should wait for another year,” Father Kandamkhulaty concluded.
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