 Mignonne wows her fans
by Mahes Perera
And so the audience went home
singing snatches of the pop song ‘Pata Pata’ overjoyed with the
rendition of the song by Mignonne Fernando who was invited to make her
charismatic appearance at the Silver Jubilee Finale held in Melbourne,
Australia. The Finale was organized by the St. Bridget’s Convent Past
Pupils Association and Mignonne was the only Bridgeteen who performed on
that magical evening. “It was a grand show and I was happy to be
associated with it and meeting up with my school friends and musicians
whom I knew when they were here in Sri Lanka. The band in action was
Replay 6 with singer Sandra leading the group through an entertaining
program of music.
 She has with her husband Esrick on guitar who has a repertoire of
country and western songs which went down well with the guests. It was
good to meet up with the trumpeter Dallas Achilles after quite some
time. The other members of her band are Derek Stewart on saxophone,
Lindsay Guilemain on drums with Chris Mant on bass, David Trower playing
guitar and Romesh Wickremasinghe and David Senn on keyboards. It was an
exciting Finale to the Silver Anniversary and when it was all over the
parting was sad.
But I must say the energetic President of the Association Rushmi
Perera did a wonderful job in spreading the happiness around” expressed
Mignonne when we met up with her.
Were there other Sri Lankan featured artistes that evening?
“Yes of course!” There was our “Living in a Dream World” Desmond
Kelly who sang really well and kept the crowd going, Arthur Speldewinde
was the compere and was brimming with fun stories and of course Alston
Koch who not only performed but was also responsible for the production
of the show. Oh! I almost forgot I was glad to meet up with the Ms
Jetliners from the contests we used to feature at our Sundown dances in
Colombo. They came from Sydney and Brisbane,” it was packed to capacity.
Now that you are back in Sri Lanka what are you intending to do music
wise?
“Now that I’ve come back I’m extending my repertoire to include jazz
compositions which is interesting. I’m also instructing keyboardists
already playing with bands in the development of correct techniques,
improvisation and chord structures and those who have potential in the
art of composing songs and music. I went for Yolande Bavan’s concert at
the Hilton Colombo the other day, and her warm personality came through.
She delivered her vocals with a lot of drama. Every word she sang she
lived it. I really enjoyed the concert.”
How about a concert by you. Will it happen in the near future?
“At the moment the music scene is rather quiet. But I’m sure the
momentum will pick up and musicians will begin to be in focus more
often. Then I hope I will be able to please my fans. We’ll keep our
fingers crossed!”
GIG REVIEW
by Pharaoh in the Catacombs
Positive energy emanated with clenched fists, devil’s horns, mosh
pits and loud noise. Whatever the form it’s been called by the norm,
those who feel it, know it by just one word: metal. This was with the
inclusion of ‘heavy elements’ too. Colombo witnessed a sheer release of
engineered madness on March 28. This was in fact the E.P launch of our
very own melodic death metallers Fallen Grace along with three
supporting bands who were the young and talented Five Minutes Apart, Sri
Lankan patriotic warriors of Hela black metal Funeral in Heaven and the
rock and roll princes of Kandy Paranoid Earthling. A night to remember
it was.
 Five minutes apart took the stage first with their prim and properly
tightened rock music. Their set also included covers from Perfect
Circle, Tool and a highly power driven Hatebreed cover which was
embraced wave after wave by head bangers. Next in line to hit the
spotlight was Funeral in Heaven (FIH).
Their set began with the drummer Vishaarada Kasun delivering a violin
delicacy along with the Tabla drummer of the band who is known to all as
Dineth ‘ahawal eka’ Wanasinghe. They managed to cook up a storm as all
metal heads engaged in their songs. Be it moshing or head banging, apart
from their anthems such as ‘Winds of Uva’ and ‘Abhaawaya’, they paid
tribute to Immortal and Watain as well.
Once the Sri Lankan war machines served their slab of black metal, it
was Paranoid Earthling who took the stage. Energetic Mirshad and the
boys from Kandy did what they do best in their genre. They rocked,
rolled and added plenty of food for thought to the young brains
addressing our current malpractices of what we call the ‘system’. A very
tight set got about making the crowd craving for “one more!!”
And so the Kandyans served an extra song ‘Pull me under’ as the
cherry on the toxic cake contained crowd favourites ‘Half-cast’,
‘Deaf-blind-dumb’, ‘69’ and ‘Rock and roll is my anarchy’!
By the time the headliners got onto the stage, the crowd was
basically hungry for energy and melody. So with the merciless bashing of
Shiwa, Rakitha, Shamil, Sohan and Nisala, the set included almost all of
their beheading melodic originals. The mosh pit witnessed an aura of
thrashing when they paid tribute to the godfathers of thrash metal such
as Sodom. If anyone failed to rise and get assaulted on that memorable
E.P launch, it was basically a driver who drove past the venue in an air
conditioned car!
For those who couldn’t catch the mayhem meltdown, the word on the
street is that Fallen Grace is planning on a gig in the Hill capital. So
stretch your necks, free weekends and adapt your eardrums for a brutal
Kandy metal leg!!
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