The Wind Band Beat
by Mahes Perera
The catchy, lilting and melodic
strains of the all time favourite ‘Pepito’ from the Navy Wind Band
greeted you on board the Jetliner signalling an evening of pleasant
musical entertainment for the visitors. The event was organised by
Oriflame on April 6 to assess the success of their Wellness Weight
Management Program which they launched a few months ago. Those who
joined the Weight Management Program spoke their testimonies and
expressed their happiness at the results they had achieved so far.
 The Navy Wind Band which performed on the two decks possessed an
enviable elastic repertoire of melodies, never heard on our stages
played by even the senior pop bands. It brought back nostalgic memories
when music groups in Sri Lanka performed many instrumentals, as over
vocals.
That day under the baton of Lt. Dharmasiri the band revived tunes
from Broadway Shows, Semi classics, selected pop hits, Neopolitan airs,
Italian favourites and Spanish and Latin classics that have stood the
test of time. Amazing and laudable too, considering the fact that all
the members of the band were from an oriental music background and have
switched to the Western idiom with no glitches whatsoever.
Their reading of the Western music notation was smooth. Their
expression of the soft and loud passages in the tunes were emotion
packed and you kept wondering why the band with a high standard of music
understanding was not featured more often at official and non-official
functions. Mention must be made of the fact that the band also played
well-arranged songs by C.T. Fernando, Sunil Shanta, Victor Ratnayake and
other popular Sinhala singers/composers, that were included in their
repertoire.
 Twenty-two players comprise the Navy Wind Band. There’s one flute,
one oboe, four clarinets, three trumpets, two saxes, two French horns,
two trombones, one tuba, bass guitar, euphonium, drums and congas. The
overall sound was well controlled which proved that the Band didn’t need
a sound engineer to direct their output - it was cleverly held together
by the band Master.
The grapevine reveals that the players are recruited from 18 year
olds who are familiar with oriental music and are sent to an Indian
academy for training lasting a period of one year, before they become
regular members of the Navy Wind Band to display their individual
artistry.
Despite the rain that beat down harshly on the seas that evening the
Navy Wind Band on board the Jetliner entertained the visitors to an
interesting and wonderful selection of music not heard for a long, long
time, thanks to Oriflame who organised their event for the enjoyment of
all.
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