Popular in their own style

by Mahes Perera

There was a time in our music industry when bands sprung on to the scene bearing names of precious stones. We had the Rubies (the Lanka Rubies to be exact), the Emeralds, the Sapphires and the Cats Eye.

In this scenario surfaced the band Pearl which incredibly, enjoyed crest wave popularity that stretched to an unbelievable period of almost 30 years, playing regularly at two leading hotels in Colombo.

At the helm of this popular band was Jayantha de Silva, a smooth vocalist and a talented keyboardist.

Despite the passage of time and the dramatic transition of music to hip hop and rap, Pearl retained its music style and popularity, playing at many corporate functions and dances and will be swinging into action to help revellers to welcome the New Year 2015 which is not too far away.

Question: Was it a kind of a cherished dream for you to lead a band or did all this involvement in music come by accident?

Answer: Actually I did not have any definite idea to lead a band, when I was young. I started playing the keyboards when I was in school at S Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia With Bubu Wijesinghe, Gihan and Geoffry we formed a band calling ourselves the Gazelles.

After leaving school I joined Super Pink 'N Purple led by Lincoln de Silva I stayed with this band for three years. In the meantime Victorine was playing with the Lanka Rubies managed by Frankie Ferrer, and the band was going to Khartoum for a gig. Victorine invited me to join them to go to Khartoum. The members of the band besides Victorine comprised Mariazelle and Priya Goonetilleke. I didn't go with them but when they returned Pearl was formed. This was in 1979.

Q: The music scene in the 70s and 80s was throbbing with plenty of live action and bands competing in a healthy manner with one another. How did Pearl fare in this context?

A: When Pearl was formed we were fortunate to win the Supper Club contract at the then Lanka Oberoi. At that time the members were myself, Priya Goonatilleke, Kamal Perera, the late Chester Wilson and Victorine de Silva.

We had a twelve-year run at the Supper Club which turned out to be a popular nightclub.

When Kamal Perera left us to go abroad, Tony Ferdinandes, the guitarist took his place.

In 1992 the Supper Club contract came to an end and we switched to freelance. At that time the competing bands were the Peter Prins Combo, Sohan & the X'periments and the Gypsies. Again Lady Luck smiled on us, because we won the contract to play at the Colombo Hilton, four days a week, from 1995 to 2008.

Playing at Hilton Hotel meant we had to play for all popular dances, weddings and corporate events.

Q: Now that you are on a freelance basis which you say is a welcome change and still playing for corporate functions, and weddings, how do you fit in the music of today which caters to the younger generation?

A: I sing the ballads in today's music while the young players in my band tackle the hip hop, rap and funk hits. So we have the old and the new mixed in our repertoire.

We cannot leave out the baila and now we include the Sinhala hit songs as well, which are often requested.

To cater to the younger generation my two sons Nipuna who is a keyboardist has his band Fire while Sandun the drummer leads Journey.

Q: What's in store for Pearl in the future?

A: We are releasing a Sinhala CD in December, titled Ranmale.

The lyrics were written by Vernon Perera while Chandralal Fonseka handled the music. We are looking forward to the season, like all musicians do because our schedule is getting crowded what with dinners, dances and weddings and most of all we will be at the Ramada with the Gypsies for the New Year's eve celebrations.

It will be an exciting experience to be playing with the Gypsies who like us have been in the music industry for a considerable length of time.