MORE than 500 students from 15 secondary schools in Suva will feature in the MANA Choral Festival in the capital next month.
Organiser and internationally-renowned music director and composer Igelese Ete says the festival aims to portray unity and positive change for the students.
"The message and theme is Voices of Change and it's partially related to Mahatma Ghandi's famous words 'be the change you want to see in the world', only in this case we'll be showcasing it though the lyrics that will be sung, genres covered, the unity of all the schools," Mr Ete said.
So far the featured schools are Ratu Sukuna Memorial, Ballentine Memorial, Dudley High, Cathedral Secondary, Lami High, Assemblies of God, Jay Narayan College, and Latter Day Saints.
Mr Ete said the list would grow as they continue their Saturday mass choir rehearsals at the USP's AusAID Lecture Theatre. "Pasifika Voices, we're always creating something conceptually and artistically innovative and different from previous years, this year we're also hoping to incorporate the Children's Music Academy Choir which I'm aiming to initiate this week," he said.