How 45 Kiwi schoolgirls mastered India's anthem for viral Eden Park cricket opener
Westlake Girls High School’s Cantare choir pose for a group photo at Eden Park on November 4, 2026. (Supplied photo)
Auckland schoolgirls win hearts with a stirring rendition of Jana Gana Mana, learnt with help from Indian classmates.
A group of Auckland schoolgirls singing India's national anthem at Eden Park on Wednesday has captured the hearts of Kiwi Indians, with videos of their performance being widely shared across social media since Wednesday's cricket match.
The rendition of Jana Gana Mana by Westlake Girls High School's Cantare choir has attracted attention from Indian New Zealanders, many delighted by the sight of dozens of young Kiwi singers performing the anthem in Hindi.
But behind the performance was a fortnight of preparation, a specially commissioned musical arrangement and a little help from two Indian-origin girls who knew exactly how the words should sound.
It all began when New Zealand Cricket approached Westlake Girls High School with an invitation to sing the Indian and New Zealand national anthems at Eden Park.
Fiona Wilson, the school's Head of Performing Arts and director of Cantare, said it was an opportunity the choir was delighted to accept.
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"We haven't done a stadium performance for quite a long time. So it was great to be asked to perform at Eden Park," Wilson told Awaaz.
The timing also worked well. With senior students nearing the end of their academic year, the school could arrange for them to attend the match without disrupting classes.
But there was one challenge. Although the choir had performed New Zealand's national anthem before, it had never sung India's.
Cantare is a treble choir, comprising soprano and alto voices, and needed musical arrangements suited to its particular vocal composition.
Wilson turned to arranger Robin Park, who created new four-part harmonies for both national anthems. The girls then had approximately two weeks to learn and memorise the arrangements before stepping onto the field.
Of Cantare's 48 members, about 45 performed at Eden Park. They represented at least 10 ethnicities, reflecting the multicultural character of the Auckland school.
Wilson said she had little doubt the singers could rise to the challenge. The choir has a strong national reputation, having consistently won gold awards at national choral competitions since 2017. Its singers have also competed successfully overseas, including in Australia and Bali.
More importantly, singing in unfamiliar languages was already part of their musical education. "This year we've sung in German, Latvian, French, English, Latin. Last year we sang in Chinese," Wilson said.
"I make it a real point to sing music from other cultures and other countries so that the students can hear what those sounds of those cultures sound like."
Hindi, however, was new territory. To help the singers understand what they were performing, Park prepared the anthem's lyrics in Hindi, along with English translations and pronunciation guidance.
The choir also used the International Phonetic Alphabet, a system that helps singers reproduce the sounds of unfamiliar languages accurately. And then there were the two Indian-origin girls in the choir. They became an important part of the learning process, helping their classmates get the pronunciation right.
"We have Indian girls in the choir too, and they were wonderful sharing their culture," Wilson said. "If something wasn't sounding quite right, they were able to correct us immediately."
The finer details mattered. Some vowel sounds needed to be more open, others more closed. Certain consonants were softer than their written forms suggested, while different sounds required subtle changes in pronunciation.
Wilson described Hindi as a beautiful language to sing in, saying the choir's previous experience with international repertoire helped the students master it.
For the school's Indian community, the performance carried a special significance.Westlake Girls High School has a substantial Indian student population and celebrates Indian culture alongside Pasifika, Chinese, Korean and Filipino cultural events during the year.
Wilson said Indian families had been particularly excited about the project, with parents following the performance at the cricket. But perhaps the most meaningful experience belonged to the Indian-origin girls who stood alongside their classmates singing the anthem.
"Those girls who are Indian in the choir, it was a really special moment for them to be able to sing their national anthem with huge pride and share that with their fellow singers," Wilson said.
The choir did not get an opportunity to meet the Indian or New Zealand cricketers, although the girls waved to players as they walked onto the field. New Zealand Cricket provided tickets for singers who wanted to stay and watch the match.
For Wilson, the experience demonstrated something bigger than musical accomplishment. "It's a wonderful thing to be able to sing in different languages because it gives you an appreciation of another culture," she said.
"It enables you to step into somebody else's world and just appreciate where they're coming from." And after the enthusiastic response to Wednesday's performance, she is hoping the choir will get another opportunity.
"I hope that New Zealand Cricket asks us again."
