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| Sunday, 26 January 2003 |
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Swing the blues alive in Rock 'N Roll when Janaka the Elvis Look-Alike goes into "Intimate and Rare" action at Bishops College Auditorium on January 26, 2003 at 6.30 p.m. "Elvis in Concert", backed by Rajiv and the Clan, and organised by the Lions Club of Jawatta Summit - District 306, is principally sponsored by National Lotteries Board. The back up singers will be Kumudini, Dharshi, Samanthi, Andrea and Indike with Sohan, Druvi, Mariazelle and Rajiv Sebastian as guest artistes and Nilanthi doing a dance skit. Rub your eyes and take a second look. Looks as if the King of Rock 'N Roll has come to life and is having a "wind down" after an energetic jamming session in Las Vegas, brandishing his legendary jump-suit, with a maroon top, black bottoms, silver belt and gold fancy work. The more commonly seen white suit laid back for a change. A panorama straight from Elvis Presley's video-ed narrative, "Return to Splendour." But for Janaka Palapathwala, one of Colombo's very own Elvis Impersonators, it is just another one of his electric Elvis performances. "I have no competition in Sri Lanka," he says, uderplaying the fact that there are a couple of Elvis act-alikes, who are equally good. Not stopping at having five solo concerts, he is now going for a sixth. "Are you good?," I want to know. "People tell me I should perform in Las Vegas, and not in Sri Lanka," he quotes from the audience enthusiasm he has received - which is as good as an answer. "There is a big market for Elvis Impersonators in Las Vegas. If there are others here, I don't consider it as a competition. It's like we are working together." Janaka conceived his "Elvis act" when he mixed songs from Elvis with Jim Reeves, Englebert and Tom Jones ("the same type of voice as Elvis- deep baritone"), at singing spots and competitions, audiences began to encore, "More Elvis! More Elvis!!" So Janaka sang Elvis songs, watched Elvis videos, admired Elvis and tried to bring alive his magnetism on stage. "Someone has said that there was nothing before Elvis - which means he was a landmark in music," Janaka rationalises his Elvis preoccupation. "Of course, there were others. But Elvis was an overall performer - he had the singing, the showmanship and genuine talent with a wide vocal register from very high to very low notes." Which was precisely where Elvis captured Janaka who asserts, quite matter of fact, that he could touch all the notes that Elvis sings. "A very deep voice is what I like - and going on a high note over a deep voice." Fans had told Janaka that he sings Elvis exactly like Elvis, and asked him, "Why don't you look like Elvis?" So was born another Elvis Impersonator, sporting attire which he assures is a 100 per cent authentic resemblance of real Elvis. His choreography comes from Elvis videos, carrying footage of the 1001 concerts which Elvis has held. In a short span of two years, Janaka graduated from doing hotel spots to the stage where he now accepts only solo performances and guest spots at dinner-dances and major concerts. "For a brief while, I sang at Eden Hotel which I considered as my rehearsing session," he says. "Now I don't accept restaurant performances." But, mind you, Janaka is no pelvic-shaker. He says Elvis adopted pelvic-swaying when he first went into singing in 1956 as a 21-year old rookie. "To do the pelvic act, one needs a very young and slim body. My act is different which is Elvis's 1970's act after he came out with his special TV show in 1968 in his famous jump suit attire." His concert audiences are mainly made of the 30's and above. Quite a few youngsters too, he quickly adds, insisting, "They are my prime target." Janaka's argument is that people begin listening to music when they are in their teens. "I don't want Elvis music to die, so I catch them young!" What is the guarantee that he would do so? "Look,"he says. "When I was a teenager, Elvis was already dead and history. His influence on me was through the 'bathroom singing' of my parents." Also from the singing streak colouring the blood of his sister and three brothers, one of whom, Sanjeewa, is a music director at an Australian church. Which spurred Janaka on to get his vocal talents polished by trainer, Mary Anne David, on whom now he relies for guidance in his Elvis mission. This young man, who was born in Kurunegala and went to school at St.Anne's College and Trinity College, Kandy, is now all set to reverse the years and make Elvis once again, the ground-breaking, world-altering teen-craze he was, to the contemporary Lankan youngsters. In the interims he is not doing so, he is a Senior Manager at Ceylinco Stock Brokers Ltd. But, locally, he is forced to restrict himself to songs which are popular with the audiences. "When I do a guest spot with two or three songs, I am confined to numbers like 'Jail House Rock, 'Now or Never' or 'Love me Tender," says Janaka. "But I do my solo concerts exactly the way Elvis did them, emulating his videos. I do about 25 songs, adding what I like." Elvis too ran up the same hurdle when, fed up with singing the same old songs, he thought he would do a concert with his rarely heard numbers. The concert was a failure. "See, there are very good songs like 'How Great Thou Art', An American Trilogy and 'Marguerita," Janaka points out. "You already know the tune of 'Marguerita' - local singer Jothipala sang it as Sudu Pata Meedum Galala. In my concerts, I will introduce at least three or four songs which Sri Lankans are not familiar with." By Jayanthi Liyanage |
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