Young choir singers from the Isle of Man recorded a timely and touching version of a classic ballad to mark Easter.

Fourteen choristers from the choir of the Cathedral Isle of Man in Peel recorded and performed a rewritten version of the classic Leonard Cohen song ’Hallelujah’, rewritten by an American singer songwriter and entitled ’Easter Hallelujah’, during the Easter celebrations at the Cathedral.

The song was broadcast live on Manx Radio and also live-streamed on the cathedral’s website.

The choir also released a special video on Easter Sunday to accompany their version of the song which came out on YouTube, recorded and produced by Dave Armstrong, which has already been viewed by thousands of people across the world.

The words to ’Easter Hallelujah’ were written by Kelley Mooney, created in 2015 around the tune of Leonard Cohen’s famous song and has proved a hit around the world, with many recorded versions appearing on the internet.

Dr Peter Litman, who leads Cathedral Isle of Man, said that the choir members, aged between seven and 15 years old, enjoyed singing the song and spent weeks in rehearsals making sure they had it right.

They have received a lot of feedback from people who were moved by the rendition .

’Kelley was commissioned by her priest to rewrite the song several years ago and her words depicting the Passion of Christ have become widely known and sung around the world,’ said Dr Litman.

The Cathedral Isle of Man choir’s version was originally intended as a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of St German’s Cathedral, but happily this coincided with a release at Easter.

’More than 5,000 people have watched the video on YouTube alone,’ said Peter.

’Many people have got in touch saying that they were moved, sometimes to tears, by the performance and the poignancy of the song,’ he said.

’I think that the song itself touches a nerve at a poignant time, particularly in this global pandemic, the words emphasise a message of hope.’

’Easter Hallelujah’ is available to view on the Cathedral Isle of Man’s YouTube channel.