Mintaka -makes its debut
By Mahes Perera
The word went around that the new band in town, Mintaka was worth a
second hearing and even more. The band now a regular feature at Qbaa on
Wednesdays and Fridays is lead by the drummer Chris Dhason - a familiar
figure with fans for whom the music of Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi
Hendrix, Blade, Sabbath, Zappa and groups in that scenario, was like
fodder for strength.
Chris Dhason's musical journey as a drummer was, as described by him
"a journey which started when I was old enough to make sense of the
sounds that were emanating from our old Grundig radio and later as a
drummer when I was involved in an Easter play with students from four
Colombo schools by a Scottish missionery Gillian Todd.
Chris Dhason |
I was 16 years old and to play songs from Jesus Christ Superstar
Godspell and other rock based songs was far too inviting to refuse."
This was the launching pad for Chris Dhason to form his first band The
Beggars Opera, with fellow mates Bryan Knower on guitar, Ajitha
Dissanayake on organ, whoever was available on bass and Chris on drums.
The scene gained more strength with Kumar Navaratnam and his band
'Graveyard' and Prince Jeyaratnam and 'The Unwanted Generation'. The
music industry was facing a counter culture, emphasised more by the
specialised programs on the National radio presented by Charmaine
Jayawardene and her weekly Progressive 30 and selective music presented
by Stephen Alagaratnam. And now with the passage of time Chris Dhason
finds himself in a not so demanding scenario.
Question: You were in the early years here in Sri Lanka and even in
the present associated with rock music and rock musicians. But down the
road in your career a switch in music has come about. If you think there
has been a switch when did it come about?
Answer: Playing in a rock band was good for the soul and great fun
but my pockets were empty.
During this time although my reputation as a drummer grew, the money
earning commercial bands were scared to touch me because of my "Rock"
image.
But then the younger rockers themselves started commercial bands on
their own and started gigging, mostly at parties and the famous "House
Dances" at the time. These "Dances" were organised in somebody's house
and youngsters who couldn't or were not allowed to go to Night Clubs and
"Big" dances were able to attend and have a lot of fun.
These house dances nurtured an entire generation of musicians in the
70s.
Eventually my first break into the Big Time circuit was when I was
invited to play with Miles Roche and 20th Century...
In the 80s there was a sudden "Brain Drain" of Sri Lankan musicians
to Europe.
Almost all the top commercial bands left the country... In 1983 the
band Uppekkha was formed with Manilal Perera on vocals, Stuart Mayo
guitar, vocals, Dulip Gnanakan on bass, and Aruna Fernando on keyboards
and me on drums.
In 1986 I travelled to Switzerland to join an African band called the
"Leones" or (The Lions).
They were from Sierra Leone and my friend Maxi Fernando who was their
keyboard player recommended me.
I lived in Europe for 13 years and played with many international
bands as well as a couple of Sri Lankan bands, Purple Rain and Fame.
During this time I toured many countries including Germany (where I
lived for 11 years), Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Holland, Norway,
France and England.
In 1999 I returned to Sri Lanka and in 2000 was a founder member of
the band Wildfire along with my long time buddy and bandleader Derek
Wikramanayake with who I have had a long association until I formed my
own band Mintaka in March 2014.
Q: This new group Mintaka you are now fronting, how different
in repertoire is it from the one Derek Wickramanayake was heading?
A: Well, Mintaka is different in many aspects. Wildfire was a
rock based pop band with some country thrown in and functioned in a
similar fashion to how British "Pub" bands do. Mintaka on the other
hand, is a band that performs what I call "Feel Good" music. The
repertoire consists of Classic soul hits from legends such as Marvin
Gaye, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight and
the Pips to hits from Modern artistes such as Pharrel Williams, Bruno
Mars, Pink and Alicia Keys.
We are able to do this kind of music and perform it convincingly
because of the incredibly talented musicians in the band.
Smooth, R&B vocals by young Sheam Dean who performs with such energy
and finesse, Terry Bertus has so much soul and power she literally
brings the roof down with her renditions of classic soul tunes. And in
the duets, their voices blend so well people are simple overwhelmed.
The band itself is tight, punchy and funky and when we play the vibe
is great! There's my old buddy from Wildfire, Nilantha Ariyaratne a
leading bassist in town.
VirajPerera is a piano teacher and extremely versatile keyboard
player with an interesting touch.
Our present guitarist is Ramesh Nonis who is making way for guitarist
Duleep Chanmugam (who has been living in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years
and is a Guitar institute alumni). The newest member of the band is an
amazingly talented young saxophone player, Janith Gamalath.
He has played with the bands Glory and A-Team before joining Mintaka
and completes the textural sound of the band and is capable of taking
the band to another level entirely.
The one similarity in both bands that is Wildfire and Mintaka is that
they both posses that x element that can propel an audience to a
rapturous state...
Q: You are involved in composing material for corporate
establishments, do you still do it and do you compose material for the
band Mintaka?
A: Yes, in fact I do. The first of my songs to get recognition
was when A rainbow out of sight was chosen to be the official theme song
for the 2002 ICC Championship Trophy hosted in Srilanka. Then we are Sri
Lankan was the official corporate theme song for Srilankan Airlines for
many years and in early 2005 a video was made with a Tri-Lingual version
and was sold on board by Sri Lankan and the proceeds went to children
affected by the tsunami.
This was a wonderful contribution by a collaboration of many
musicians towards a devastated community ravaged by the Tsunami.
At present I am into world music having taught myself to play all
sorts of exotic percussion instruments. I have also toured Norway and
Bangladesh as a percussionist with World music artist Kohinoor.
I'm in the process of recording a CD for a corporate entity right
now.
The forthcoming CD has some international artistes such as Hussain
Jiffrey on bass, Andrew Oh on sax and flute as well as some very
talented local artists such as, Dulip Gnanakan, Kumar De Silva, Pabalu,
Primal Liyanage and Chitral Somapala.
Q: Coming back to your forte - rock how do you place our young
musicians expression of rock, is it creative and successful or do you
think that there is more that you should reflect in their music?
A: Rock music is alive and kicking in Sri Lanka sure enough,
although it lives under a different name today... Heavy Metal. This I
suppose is a natural worldwide evolution that takes place phase by
phase. Before that it was Progressive Rock and Alternate Rock.
Heavy Metal comes in different shades of grey with labels like, Black
Metal, Trash Metal, Death Metal, Speed Metal etc...
The young musicians of the day have access to all these forms of
music and cultures through You Tube and DVDs. Some of the bands I have
heard are very good and maintain a pretty high standard.
Some bands such as Stigmata have a hard core following with the band
putting out many CDs of their own music and touring internationally as
well.
However, it is not easy for Asian rock bands to break thru in to a
market which is predominantly white, although I did see an Indian metal
Band perform at the annual Inferno Metal festival in Oslo in 2011.
Q: Do you feel restricted in playing with Mintaka or are you
happy with what you are doing now in music?
A: I have over the years learned to live the moment to the
best of my ability. I am not only on a musical journey but aware of my
journey in life and the many things that are there to learn and savour
from... I am leading an interesting band called Mintaka.
Mintaka is the western-most star on the belt of Orion and stands for
positive vibration and good fortune... and I am also writing and
recording my own music. Yes, I am happy with what I'm doing now. |