It's that time of the year when the city comes alive with choral singing and Christmas cheer. This time around, the two-day Festival of Festive Music by the Stop-Gaps Cultural Academy kicks off performances this weekend, and will have the choir from AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory make its debut and the big finale celebrate 200 years of the carol Silent Night.

Since its inception in 1984, when it was a competition and meant to raise funds, the annual festival has come a long way and hosted choirs from Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru and Dimapur. Alfred D’Souza, 66, ch­airman and music director of the mu­sic academy, says, “Many choirs today have compositions in vernacular languages and their own arrangements, besides focusing on costume and dance. We’re reaching international standards!” But, Joshua Chelliah, conductor of all-male choral group called The Harmonics from Ch­e­nnai, adds, “Choral music as a career in India is still challenging. One can’t earn much. Some of us have even dabbled in choral music for Tamil film music.”