It was surreal to have The Pope release our album: Manoj George

Bengaluru-based musician and violinist Manoj George is thrilled by the fact that it was Pope Francis who released his international spiritual song Sarvesa – the lord’s prayer, in Sanskrit. “We had begun putting together this work in January this year, and at every step, it was just getting more and more bigger – from the people who got involved creatively to this finally being released by His Holiness on Children’s Day,” recalls Manoj.

“The song, composed in the Indian raga called nata bhairavi, has been put together by Fr Dr Paul Poovathingal from Kerala and myself. We had a Sanskrit expert helping us with the right pronunciation of the words. It got to another level when we got 100 priests and 100 nuns as part of the chorus. This was recorded in Kochi. Then we added an international orchestra. Ricky Kej, who has co-produced the song along with CMI Fathers, helped us get this done with some of the top musicians who have been Grammy winners and have been part of Grammy winning songs at The Village in LA. We then got Padmavibhushan Dr K J Yesudas. Fr Paul was a student of Yesudas, so it was easier to get across to him in Florida. We included work by Rakesh Chourasia in Mumbai. With so many big names, we were wondering who would release the song. We tried to reach out to The Pope, it was so difficult. But I think it just was meant to happen, as we got a call about a conference in Rome, during which there was a possibility of meeting him. We had to hurry up with the visa processes again because we got to know of this possibility very late. But by God’s grace, everything worked out and we had The Pope bless the cover as he released it. He was very happy, asked if this was for him and we gave him a pen drive with the song. He has never done such a thing before, releasing a song. But for us, it was a moment of sorts that I think none of us will ever forget. It is a blessing,” says Manoj.
Manoj, who has also been part of all of Ricky Kej’s Grammy-winning songs so far, believes one should always try to give back to the society. He says, “The proceeds of the song too, that has been available on streaming platforms, will go towards helping development of children affected with autism, cerebral palsy and mental retardation through neurological music therapy.”
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