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| Sunday, 3 November 2002 |
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The Country Music Foundation must be congratulated for getting the Maverick Band down to Sri Lanka despite many constraints and staging the show for the cause of our underprivileged children. The female singer who came along with the Maverick Band, Elena Ley was a pleasant surprise - not only was she beautiful to look at she was also hip and modern in her country singing and she sang uptempo songs by Winona Ryder, Dolly Parton, Paddy Lovelace, Lorrie Morgan, Shania Twain, threw in her versions of 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' and the country gem 'Stand By Your Man'. The youth in the audience lapped up her performance for she radiated a kind of role model figure to them. She was backed by our musicians calling themselves the Country Jam Band.
Of course Dirk Maverick was in full form making his entrance from off stage with the popular 'Rhinestone Cowboy' and moved quickly into his traditional Sri Lankan hit 'Ayubowan', followed by a string of country hits - a swinging 'I've Got Friends', 'Queen of Hearts' from Steve who indulged in some yodelling as well. Dirk's stage presence and the entertaining patter between Dirk and Steve is something that our musicians must acquire for their stage presentations. Standing on stage and blandly announcing the titles after each song will only continue to make them slip into an unflattering groove. There were more country chestnuts from Dirk 'Coward of the Country', 'Don't Take Your Love to town' and a highlight of the bands performance was when four members criss- crossed their hands and played the melody of 'With a banjo on my knee' on two guitars and a bass.
We may have seen it the last time around, but yet the artistry was a fresh experience. Dirk's entertaining medley of Elvis songs and Johnny Cash's 'Ghost Riders in the Sky' with audience participation, together with Dirk's Russian version of the song complete with martial movements were extremely entertaining. Mention must be made of Flame Unplugged's performance of 'Teach the Children' Naushad Rasool's 'Vincent' and other familiar folk-country favourites, and also Primal Liyanage's selections of songs including a sensitive 'Homeward Bound'. A capacity packed Kings Court at Trans Asia proved that there is a very big following for country music in Sri Lanka, despite the heavy presence of disco and rap. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Every year
Dirk Maverick and the Band unfailingly gave an entertaining and
professional performance at the Country Road concerts at Trans Asia Hotel
and the audience go home happy with their memories. This year too it was
the same.
