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| Sunday, 23 November 2003 |
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'Revelation' : revels in quality music by Umangi de Mel Music is made here and
abroad ... Musicians take the extra-step to come up with what's running
amok inside their heads putting it all "We once played withDream Team before we decided to quit and have our own band. And we thought we'd play gospel music rather than playing covers," Shean says and adds that 'Revelation' is derived from the Book of Revelation. Revelation includes Shean on lead vocals, Kosala, leader of the band cum sound engineer who's on key boards and bass, Zion on lead guitars, Diren on drums, Nalin on bass and acoustic guitar lead guitars and percussion. Having formed the outfit in June this years the guys have been able to impress the international audience big time as they say that they are on contract with "Quality Inn" in Dubai. Revelation claims to have had a kick-start in Dubai which apparently has been quite fruitful for the five of them. "While we were jamming there, we were lucky enough to be among the top ten bands out of 300 international bands. It was a survey done by "Stars World". And we were invited to play with the top ten bands," they talk about their moment of glory. 'Revelation' has been placed third in the competition which included bands from Canada, Britain, Tanzania, India, South Africa, Philippines. "It was quite shocking when we received a letter informing us that we were among the top 10 bands, it was pretty overwhelming" Shean says and adds that they were just about to return to Sri Lanka having finished their contract with the Quality Inn. "But we focused a lot on the competition because we wanted to bring something back to Sri Lanka. We were given 15 minutes to perform something of our choice and we fused rock with eastern music and that is how we bagged third place," they say beaming with pride. "That was the first time a Sri Lankan live band got such an award. After winning the award Quality Inn wanted us to stay on even though the contract was over, they said. The five who are on vacation say it's been quite productive playing abroad. "Our 1st gig was with 'Quality Inn'. We play all sorts of music, a bit of pop, R & B reggae, but mostly rock especially Deep Purple, Metallica, Creed, and Nickel Back. The response is really good. In fact we scored the best points for audience impact at the competition," Shean says. According to him 'Revelation' has quite a big following in Dubai. "Especially Indians and South Africans. They say that they have played six days a week at the "Horse Shoe" Pub. "We are being approached by Universal records and we are working on stuff with them at the moment. But since we don't have much material yet, I thought of letting Stigmata take the chance," Shean says adding that Stigmata's got brilliant talent. The guys have been jamming continuously ever since they came back home. "We are exclusively playing under Reign entertainment with Geoffrey Fernando at Clancy's as well as R & B," they say. Speaking about original music Shean says that they have worked on a few a songs so which their trying to come up with titles. "We're still trying to gather ideas to our songs. We keep adding colour to what we put together. 'Revelation' say that the local music scene has improved over the years, "The musician are paid well and their horizons are widening. Music has more scope here," the point out. "The Rock scene is extremely good and it's overwhelming to see young musicians come up with their own stuff. Above all there are people to back them up", Shean says and adds, " Ten years ago 'Venom' had the best original music but they lacked opportunity nevertheless today there's immense for Hip Hop, R & B and fusion music. Sad to say the people seem to neglect these aspects since Rock seems to have become the trend. Everybody picks it up and it's funny in a way because the older generation has categorised Rock Music as Satanic which is very wrong. It depends on the lyrics, style and the ideas," Shean grumbles saying that it's not fair to label them. Revelation consider the musically talented youth as an asset, "It's an investment considering the fact that there is a lot of potential in Sri Lanka". They seem to have faith in the quality in local music as well as local tastes, "In Sri Lanka there is audience for quality music and we are more comfortable here. We do get a lot of wild fans in Dubai but there's nothing better than coming home. Finally the group talks about the members. "Our friendship is really old, Kosala who is our producer does music for other artistes as well. Nalin was with Bathiya and Santhush before he joined us. Zion is one of the best guitarists in Sri Lanka. We just clicked, music being our mutual interest and it's great sharing things as a team. We would love to come and play in Sri Lanka if they pay us good," they say. |
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down on paper and making quality
melodies. In short, they dare to reveal what's been gifted to them which
results in a splendid revelation.
