Entertainment
Farewell Blue Elephant
by Mahes Perera
  Groovers and music lovers what you are going to read might take you
by surprise. But it's the honest truth... Guides honour and all that
jazz!
The Blue Elephant, the 'night pulse of Colombo' the discerning disco
the popular number one chill out night club will officially close its
doors this month after a grand cocktail and three days of partying on
April 19, 20 and 21 featuring all the DJ's who mixed grooves at the
Blue. The standard club restrictions will be in effect.
And the icon of the Club the Blue Elephant, three feet two inches in
height and four feet two inches in length, studded with coloured stones
will be auctioned on the last day Saturday April 21. All proceeds from
the auction will go towards charity.
To refresh your memory the Blue Elephant with all its magical charm
opened its doors twenty years ago on July 2, 1987. The sound and lights
were handled by the Singaporean company Inova and at the early stages
they provided the DJs.
The first DJ was a female from UK, her name was Karen Askew.
Subsequently, the first Sri Lankan DJ who took over was the entertaining
Bunty Noordeen a Golden Clef Award winner who was the first Sri Lankan
to beat mix in a Sri Lankan night club.
As time went by DJ Bunty moved on, handing the console to his trainee
DJ Kapila who continued to keep the exciting throb of the disco beat
with dexterity which resulted in more fans and in him too winning the
Golden Clef Award for DJing.
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The Blue Elephant DJs with the GM William Costley |
From Resident DJ Kapila took over as the Club Manager as well and had
with him the flamboyant and popular DJ Ray whose music career came to an
abrupt and untimely end, when he met with a motorcycle accident.
Filling in the void was DJ Harith, a hotel school student who was
trained by DJ Kapila and soon moved in as the Resident DJ. Subsequently
when Kapila was made Asst. Food and Beverage Manager, DJ Harith took
over as the Club Manager. Harith is the second long-standing DJ and
Manager of the Blue Elephant, who is now managing 'Spoons' the signature
restaurant of the Hilton Colombo.
Other DJs who had successful spells at the Blue were DJ Viran, a
favourite with the youth and fair sex, stayed behind the console for
five years before he left for London. DJ Naushad popularly known as Shad
followed DJ Viran, jetting in from Bahrain and to introduce his new beat
of music. A feature of his eight year stay saw the birth of KNH Project
- and the release of a remixed CD 'Years of Deejaying' followed by the
'E-mix' for Shaggy's visit to Sri Lanka.
There were others too who made it all happen at the Blue like DJ
Monindra, DJ Thoshan, DJ Pradeep and DJ Danushka. Popular DJ Wendell and
DJ Nalin too had their moments spinning grooves night after night. Of
course one time Entertainment Manager Harpo Gunaratne never failed to
perform guest spots to the delight of the groovers. The Blue Elephant
chapter comes to a close.
The General Manager William Costley has a new concept and new ideas
in the bag to replace the Blue Elephant. And before that, catch all the
Blue Elephant DJs in action on April 19, 20 and 21.
[email protected]
Young, new and dynamic
 A new dynamic duo who have burst on the music scene and made a
tremendous impact with their music are 19-year-old Krishan Perera and
18-year-old Lanthra Perera.
Krishan an old Josephian was the leader of the Western Band and the
experience and skill he has gained holds him in good stead. What's more
he's a multi instrumentalist - plays trumpet, is a guitarist and quite
accomplished on the keyboards. Lanthra on the other hand is a past pupil
of St. Peter's College and is the son of the former Gypsies' bassist
Nimal Perera.
While in College he performed for the College functions as a solo
artist and played with Diliup Gabadamudalige as the lead guitarist. He
is the youngest music director in Sri Lanka today, composing commercial
jingles for ad agencies.
Hailing from a musical family, quite naturally he has had a passion
for music from a very young age, and was tutored by Wasantha,
Suriyakumar, Derek Wickramanayake of Wild Fire fame and Kamal Perera of
the band Mirage. Krishan Perera on the other hand, while still a boy of
16 years, participated in the Sirasa Karaoke Competition 2004 and came
through as the winner from among a vast number of vocalists.
He is grateful to Damien Wickrematilleke for fine tuning his vocal
artistry which resulted in him being a winner of the competition. One
time members of the band AKASH managed by Thilak Dias, they were awarded
the prize for the Best Original Song, 'I Wanna Rock You' sung by Lanthra,
at the TNL Onstage in 2004.
While Lanthra is a full time musician Krishan works as a Merchandiser
at Hela Clothing Pvt. Ltd. They perform at private functions, live
concerts, weddings earning popularity for themselves.
The good news is that the duo are working on an album which will be
launched shortly, and like someone said, the album is bound to contain
'chic new styles and golden melodies that would take music to a newer
dimension.'
MP
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