About 60-odd years ago, Prabhu G Dorairaj, founder-conductor of the Lutheran Men’s Voice (LMV) began his musical journey as a treble in his church choir, the Adaikalanathar Lutheran Church located on the bustling Tana Street in Purasaiwalkam. At 24, he along with friends Premkumar Immanuel, Selvaraj and D Prabakhar went across to sing as a youth group at the Tamil Methodist Church, Vepery, and thus the four launched the LMV with four more as a double quartet in 1975.
What is fascinating is the first four of them continue to sing nary a pause and be part of the 17-member group even today, 50 years later. Dorairaj says a little wistfully, “I miss Reuben Theodore of the Three Chords as he played a significant role in our inception and sang first tenor for us.” Their repertoire is not confined to only Lutheran hymns and today the age range of the choir is from 28 to 75. In fact three second generation singers find place in the ensemble — Ebenezer (Dorairaj’s son), Rajmohan and John Ragland.
A former SBI official, Dorairaj is a self-taught musician and has been choir director in his church for 40 years. The late Rajeevan David was the LMV’s accompanist during concerts. LMV hosted its 40th and 45th anniversary concerts in Bangalore. The Chennai fans get to hear them at least thrice a year around Passion Week, Christmas and in the months in between.
Lutheran Men’s Voice
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Special Arrangement
They are a regular fixture at the Carols by Candlelight — where they once sang ‘Thaththuva gnaana puththuyir’ from Kannadasan’s Yesu Kaaviyam, arranged by their director, that garnered much praise — besides many other carol programmes in Chennai. The ensemble is versatile in singing hymns, spirituals, Tamil keerthanais, and gospel songs in English, Tamil, and at times Malayalam and Hindi too. The group is focus driven on mission work and charity, supporting 10 children from disadvantaged sections of society through a seva mandal.
Premkumar, one of the founding members, says the group has stood the test of time “solely by the grace of God”. Rajasuriya, formerly with the LIC, another long standing member added, the milestone year marks family, faith and commitment.
Lutheran Men’s Voice
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Special Arrangement
Suresh Kumar, a retired executive from World Vision, shared “being aligned in a group like LMV, taught me to appreciate different personalities, appreciate contributions made by different people and learn how each one is indispensable in a team setting. Prabhu gave space for various expressions and was open to new ideas. Also the wisdom of the elderly and the energy of the youth have made for a good mix. We’ve had Under Secretaries to the Government singing tenor; a former HoD of the Department of Commerce from Loyola College; a former choir director from the Marthoma Church and marketing executives and young IT professionals, an assistant professor in an Engineering college and retired people like me sing together”.
Lutheran Men’s Voice
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Special Arrangement
On October 17, 7pm, the Lutheran Men’s Voice presents its Golden Anniversary concert at the Museum Theatre, Egmore. Entry is free.
How performances have changed
Prabhu G Dorairaj, choir director, Lutheran Men’s Voice, says, ”When we started the group in 1975, selection of songs was very easy. Most of the time we sang spirituals. The focus was mainly on harmony. As the years rolled by, we had to branch off to other genres, as people were looking for variety.
Since we had our roots in the Lutheran tradition, which has a rich mosaic of German music, it was easy for us to switch to semi classical, singing excerpts from compositions of Bach and others. At the same time, we had to satisfy the younger generation, which looked for contemporary music. We had to adapt and arrange our music to their taste. Five decades of singing together has given us the confidence to handle Western composers with ease; Handel, Hayden, Mozart, to name a few.
In the late 1990s many young groups sprang up and there was an abundance of talent. After the turn of the century the city is awash with small and medium-sized groups. Now on the threshold of celebrating our Golden Jubilee, having experienced a variety of music, and meeting groups of different calibre, we have a sense of satisfaction, of having done our best for the music lovers of the city.
Published – October 15, 2025 04:51 pm IST
