Mumbai, Jul 11 (IANS): The Meghalaya-based Shillong Chamber Choir released their new song 'The Great Indian Train Journey' to pay tribute to their founder and the iconic Indian pianist Neil Nongkynrih. The choir group claimed fame by winning the television reality show 'India's Got Talent (Season 2)'.

The multi-genre Shillong Chamber Choir has captured the imagination of audiences with the unique presentation of popular Bollywood tracks in a choir format. Interestingly the new song is originally penned and composed by the late Neil Nongkynrih himself. He was the founder of the choir. Neil wrote the song 10 years ago and was inspired by the innumerable train journeys he took across the sub-continent with his choir.

Talking about the song, William Richmond, the lead singer of the choir said, "Uncle Neil loved train journeys and spending time with people. He would look forward to cruising in the first-class compartment and sipping some tea from the eccentric cups and saucer and the infamous cutlery. He would always return with a plethora of tales that he shared with us and his friends." Neil passed away in January this year.

William added, "This song was with us for 10 years, and even when we were working on it, it seemed difficult to achieve, but somehow we, along with our director Satish Raj Kasireddy and choreographer Shohini Dutta, worked on it till the end. He had lived such a rich life and his happiness dwelled in the act of giving. He wanted to bring that joy to all the people listening to this song, especially after the hardships everyone has been through in these two years of the pandemic."

The song is released on the occasion of Neil's birthday and it is available on the official YouTube channel of The Shillong Chamber Choir.