FOBISIA Voices

Gareth Groves Head of Performing Arts & Co-Chair FOBISIA Music Committee, The ABC International School

FOBISIA Voices was born out of a desire amongst our community to interact and perform together, something that is an inherent part of being musical. Since schools started to close due to COVID-19 measures back in January 2020, many schools have been unable to run practical music sessions, with many providing online learning opportunities - which for some schools are still in place today. When brainstorming ideas about what we could offer the FOBISIA community, we came up with the idea of commissioning a song about hope and the fact that ‘There Will Always Be Music’.

After developing a relationship with leading British composer Alexander L’Estrange when the FOBISIA Youth Choir of HCMC with The International Choir and Orchestra of HCMC gave the Asian premiere of his work Zimbe! back in 2017, we made contact again and both he and his wife Joanna were delighted to get involved with the project. With the kind support of our sponsors, Engage, MTA, White Canvas + and SchoolHouse Agency we set about recruiting schools to take part. We were delighted to welcome 24 schools from 10 countries.

The song was released to schools at the beginning of January 2021 and was an immediate hit with everyone who heard it. The challenge however, was that many schools were now finding themselves in unforeseen lockdowns and restrictions on singing within classrooms. True to the nature of our teachers, students and the community spirit that embodies FOBISIA Music, people rallied and supported one another, with some even producing YouTube tutorials that would help those students learning from home. When we reached the deadline of the end of March, we were so grateful to have the help and professional support of Alex and his team from SchoolHouse Agency, bringing together well over a hundred videos and audio tracks to produce the finished product which was released on the 1st June, which we are so proud of today. The final two mentions, however, must go to the host school, The ABC International School, for allowing me the freedom to create and run with the project and also FOBISIA HQ, who communicated so brilliantly and effectively in bringing the many strands together seamlessly.

I really hope that the whole FOBISIA community enjoyed the song and to use some of the lyrics to summarise, I know that everyone can not wait until “one day we’ll be singing together again”.

Alexander L'Estrange Composer