 Superstar Academy
by Nilma Dole
 Meet anyone randomly or someone wanting to dabble in a bit of gossip
- the word on everyone’s lips is Superstar. Not just celebrities but
singing Superstars whose voices croon on local television and whose
faces grace the covers of magazines and posters in towns. Everyone wants
to be a Superstar.
In helping those wannabe Superstars, especially those who are at the
receiving end of those reality star shows where they are made fun of, a
special academy has been set up to help out. Enter the STAR or Superstar
Training Academy, Ratmalana which was primarily set up to help those
potential upcoming stars to believe in themselves without facing the
trauma of getting harassed live on television.
“The Superstar craze is rampant in society today and the problem is
that people need the right training to feel confident when they go for
their first audition” said Nadeeka Maheswaran of the Academy. The
Academy has got some of the best trainers in the field of Eastern and
Western Dancing and Singing where graduates from the Fine Arts Faculty
give lessons and moreover, the confidence to shine.
 “We hope to change the negative culture that the Superstar craze has
brought and aim to make it respectable and instrumental in shaping the
careers of performers,” said Gayan Kaluarachchi the Director of the
Academy.
Lal Kaluarachchi, the Chairman of the Academy has said that he plans
to make a film where excellent students of the Academy will have the
opportunity to act. In this way, students of the Academy will gain
valuable exposure even after they learn the art of dancing and singing
which will give them more confidence to tackle the local entertainment
industry.
There are 10 district centres where the students of the Academy can
train even though the main branch is at Ratmalana. “We give a
comprehensive training for 6 months and then give on-the-spot training
for the performers. Then we record their performance and show how they
can improve which is beneficial,” said Nadeeka. Overall, the Superstar
Training Academy Ratmalana is a suitable place to learn from the best
and be a real Superstar!
A sound that spells success
by Mahes Perera
“I’ve been singing since I was ten years and when I was growing up,
like many young singers I imitated the singing style of the pop favourites of the time and then later I realised, that won’t take me far
if I want to make a career out of music.
So I went around developing my own style which would make me sound
different from others on the scene,” says Nalin singer/guitarist who is
never at odds with today’s rough and ready hip-hop generation. His music
route is on a folk and country street and his favourite singers are Don
McLean, Lobo and Simon and Garfunkel. “At Wesley College I had a group
of five singers. We called ourselves Black Rangers, were active at
school, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. But as it always happens, we
have to move on in life but music remained with me.”
 His band Nalin and The Star Combination is now enjoying continuous
success, playing for many social occasions, sometimes two events a day,
and making their musical impact for which they are recognised. On
October 24 the band will be centre stage at Galle the town that is the
cynosure of all eyes, today. The Academy of Prince Ratnam will be
holding its Medical Ball which according to all reports is an event
specially created out for the young and old, and looked forward to by
the groovers.
You had a stint in the Middle East. How did you fare?
“My band was Spectrum, with keyboardist Deepal Perera and three
Indian musicians we performed at Doha Qatar. I created history there by
being the first Sri Lankan band to perform. I came back home and covered
a duo scene with Chandimal, then switched over to a trio scene
‘Champagne’ with Sonali and Chrys before forming my current band.”
Nalin’s band has achieved longevity because of their repertoire which
has an elastic stretch of retro, to country, rock, contemporary western
and Sri Lankan pop. The other members of the band are Shirmila Fonseka,
a vocalist with a strong repertoire of Sinhala and English songs,
Dilantha Silva, keyboardist who handles the entire percussion section on
the keyboards and the young guitarist/vocalist Hirushke Fernando.
An ardent cricket fan Nalin Fernando is proud of the fact that he
captained the Lanka Lions in the Middle East. “I was overjoyed when my
band had the honour of playing at Murali’s World Record Celebration of
709 wickets where the bright lights in our cricket world were present.
It was a fabulous evening at the Waters Edge with all the past and
present cricketers and officials.
Now that life in our country is on a peaceful note, the musicians
find themselves being contracted for more work with the season round the
corner. On November 20 Nalin and the Star Combination will be in action
at the BMICH Banquet Hall for the Royal Commonwealth Society’s
Sing-a-long cum dance which will be threaded together by Vijaya Corea.
While all this is happening around them, the band is working on a new CD
of Sinhala songs which they hope to release with videos in early 2010. |
