Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Gaël Rangain
Published on 2024-03-10 07:00:03
The initiative comes from a young parishioner, Ashley Vithilingem, who is very involved in the church of Notre-Dame de Lourdes in Rose-Hill. On Saturday, March 16, to mark this Christian Lenten month, a spiritual concert of classical music will be offered. Several students from the Frédéric Chopin and François Mitterrand conservatories will perform at this unique concert, as well as well-known local figures such as Véronique Zuel-Bungaroo and Jean-Michel Ringadoo. The event will take place on Saturday, March 16, at 7:30 pm at the church of Notre-Dame de Lourdes. A donation plate will be available at the door because “the proceeds from this activity will be fully donated to the fund for the renovation of Lakaz A in Port-Louis, which is currently underway,” said Ashley Vithilingem.
This structure of the diocese of Port-Louis aims to be a Halfway Home for drug addicts, people living with HIV/AIDS, victims of sex trafficking, homeless individuals, and other marginalized members of our society. It is under the responsibility of Ragini Rungen and is mainly supported by volunteers.
During the Covid-19 years, Ashley Vithilingem resumed, “I started a series of vigils, specifically for Mary, the mercy. It was my way of contributing to our spiritual growth.” Last year, just before the ordination of Monsignor Jean-Michaël Durhône, he organized a night of prayer at the Fiat home in Petite-Rivière. “With other young parishioners, it was our way of marking this important event.”
A third-year law student at UCLAN, the 21-year-old man confessed that this year, he wanted to change his activities. “At the end of 2023, I had the chance to attend two classical music concerts that left a strong impression on me,” he admitted. Among them, an interpretation of an excerpt from the very famous Messiah by the Saxon composer Georg Friedrich Handel, revolving around the Bible, the Old and New Testaments. The idea then sprouted in the young parishioner’s fertile imagination to organize a classical music concert with a spiritual theme. “Even though it is an important and decisive year for my studies, after giving it some thought, I finally decided to go through with this project,” he added.
Before diving in, Ashley Vithilingem turned to two Church officials: “Father Patrice de la Salle, superior of the Jesuits, vicar of Notre-Dame de Lourdes, and Father Gérard Sullivan, parish priest of the said parish. Both fully supported me when I mentioned the project to them, and welcomed the idea. Father Sullivan, who is himself experienced in shows and artistic events, put me in touch with Rosy Ann Lebon and Hansley Félicité, two musicians with whom I shared the idea, and who helped make this spiritual concert a reality.” As the project gained recognition by word of mouth, “students from the Frédéric Chopin and François Mitterrand conservatories joined the venture,” Ashley Vithilingem added.
“En marche vers Pâques” (On the way to Easter) is divided into three parts, as can be seen on the concert poster. “First, there is Holy Thursday, with Jesus’ last supper with his disciples before his arrest; then, Good Friday, symbolized by the three crosses on the way to Golgotha, and finally, the resurrection of Jesus, his emergence from the tomb, and the celebration of Easter. For these three ‘moments,’ the music performed by the musicians will be suitable, alternating between the sadness that punctuates the first two parts, and the joy that marks the return of Jesus. We chose this format because it aims to contribute to the reflection and questioning of this context of prayers.”
While not an overly ambitious project, the spiritual concert “En route vers Pâques” can still boast of having brought together some big names from the local scene. In fact, Ashley Vithilingem announced, “in addition to the Ave Maria to be performed by Véronique Zuel-Bungaroo, we will have the participation of a great figure from the scene, Jean-Michel Ringadoo, Father Georges Chung, Hansley Félicité, Jocelyn Lebon, and Jessica Babet, among others.” Ashley Vithilingem also acknowledged “the support of our two sponsors in this endeavor, without whom this project would have faced difficulties in its realization.”
So, mark your calendars for Saturday, March 16, at the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Rose-Hill, for 90 minutes of classical music with a spiritual theme. Ashley Vithilingem makes a passionate appeal for “every person who attends to remember to contribute to the fund we wish to raise and donate to the renovation of Lakaz A in Port-Louis!”
Read the original article(French) on Le Mauricien
