The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 80-year-old organ comes alive

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 08, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

80-year-old organ comes alive

M. Raghuram

— Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

Rare: The pipe organ in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: If there was a world heritage site for music, Bangalore would have easily qualified as one. For, the city plays host to a rare musical instrument — a towering 80-year-old pipe organ standing majestically by the altar in St. Mark’s Cathedral. A piece of history in its own right, the instrument was donated to the church by Avis F. Cowdrey, father of British cricketer Colin Cowdrey, in 1928.

Standing two storeys tall and built in teak, ivory and zinc, the organ was the pride of Bangalore’s music lovers for decades. After lying in a state of disuse for over 20 years, the organ is now back in working condition thanks to its total restoration in March 2007. An initiative by the St. Mark’s Cathedral management along with a group of Swiss organ builders has fully restored the instrument to its original grandeur, at a cost of Rs.50 lakh. Originally, the organ was mechanical but during the restoration it was given an electric edge. The huge wind pipes now get filled with wind generated by a blower while the double console is to be powered by an electric magnet that makes it easier on the hands of the player. Presbyter of the cathedral Vincent Rajkumar had co-ordinated with the experts for the restoration. He told The Hindu that despite the total revamp the experts had taken care to retain the original sounds of the organ.

Rev. Rajkumar said playing the organ was not easy. It requires fifth grade training. Edgar George now plays the organ during special occasions and is happy about the single sound that the 100 pipes of the organ produce at the touch of a key. Before Rev. Edgar George, the organ was played by David Sebastian for 40 years. On learning that such a marvellous instrument was being put back to use after a long gap, many European tourists now visit the cathedral. As the authorities of the cathedral put it, each of the visitors had only words of praise for the “perfect and original” sound emanating from the organ.

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