Join this choir in Mumbai with strangers to enjoy a good session of music

Medha Sahi (on keyboard) at a previous session in Goa. PICS COURTESY/THESTRANGERSCHOIR

Rule number one of Stranger Danger: Never accept something a stranger hands you. We suggest you forget it before you join Medha Sahi's Strangers' Choir this weekend. Sheets of song lyrics will be exchanged between complete strangers at the Goa-based music instructor's initiative.

"I stumbled upon New York-based Gaia Music Collective who run the popular One-Day Choir concept. While travelling to New York seemed impractical, I realised that there was nothing stopping us from recreating it in India," says Sahi, who started the project in 2025 in Goa.

Guests at the Lakshmi Vilas Palace harmonise at a November 2025 session

The last thing the musician wants to do is to preach to the choir, she assures us. Participants from all walks of life, including those with no prior experience in singing have found their voice in the past among strangers, she reveals. So, can anybody sing? "I can't tell for sure. But anybody can enjoy singing, this I know," she signs off.

AGE GROUP 7 years and above
ON July 26; 10.30 am
AT Malabar Hill (venue disclosed on registration)
LOG ON TO @thestrangerschoir
ENTRY Rs 1350 (per person)

Setting the tone

How do strangers who have never met before find the perfect harmony?

Arrangement: Medha Sahi breaks down the song for the day in layers of harmony. Participants are split into groups, and each group receives a section.

Pre-song practice: Participants learn the basics of harmonising in a 30-minute DIY segment.

Sing on the go: Groups find their own sweet spot in the arrangement as they sing. The musically-inclined members pull up novices with their guidance.

Royal matters

>> In November last year, Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad of Baroda hosted Sahi at the 1890-established Lakshmi Vilas Palace. A group of 250 sang evergreen hits of AR Rahman in the sprawling halls of the palace.

>> This August, Sahi is in for another tryst with Royalty, at the City Palace Museum in Udaipur for an Independence Day special performance