The original ‘Hallelujah’ by Cohen was musically brilliant and has a deep, but somewhat confusing story behind it. A rather lesser known band called Cloverton rewrote the lyrics to make it a Christmas story and thus was born Christmas Hallelujah.
It’s one of my favourite Christmas songs – the mix of amazing music, song writing and lyrics results in a musical story that gives goosebumps.
Here are my five favorite versions of the song. I’m starting with my most favorite version.
1. Kaylee Rodgers and the Killard House School choir
It’s hard to believe that a shy little girl with autism and ADHD could deliver the best version of this song along with a choir of special children from the Killard House School Choir – but that’s just happened with one of the most popular Christmas videos on the internet. Listen and you will understand why.
2. Caleb And Kelsey
The harmonious duo belt out a soulful rendition of the song that is stunning. They have several Christmas songs, but this is arguably their best.
3. CMC Vellore (with choreography)
This version was performed at the Scudder Auditorium in 2019 as part of the Christmas Carol service at Christian Medical College, Vellore. The combination of terrific vocals and simple choreography elevates this song significantly. The video recording is lower quality, but watching it live was mesmerizing.
4. Living Stones Quartet
The music for this score makes multiple vocal parts thrilling to sing and I find this version by the Indian music group very soothing and harmonious.
5. St. Marks Cathedral Junior Choir
The covid related lockdowns resulted in billions of virtual choirs. “Christmas Hallelujah” saw a few virtual performances too. This version by children is one of the best virtual children’s rendition of this song.
I hope you enjoyed this list. We tried performing this song twice with very little practice in 2019.
The first was at Church during our Sunday School Christmas program. We sang this as the ending of the sermon to reiterate the Christmas story to the children.
The second was done during the KPTR campus Christmas program in 2019. This recording is a bit noisy and scratchy.
