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| Sunday, 23 May 2004 |
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Composing was another facet of his musical career that has earned him fame and many awards especially in film scoring. 'Pitagamkarayo' directed by Tissa Abayasekera was one of the earlier tele-dramas that was a success for him. There were other awards for the scoring for 'Anantha Rathriya' Pavuru Valalu, and recently for 'Aswesuma'. Harsha was also duly recognised for his creative fusion compositions which saw successful expression in 'Suvarasanga Vannama' - a work for Symphony Orchestra, Piano and Sri Lankan Drums - the Thammattam, Low Country Drums and Davul which was performed by the Colombo Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the late D. Earle de Fonseka with Ramya de Livera - piano and Ravi Bandu Vidhyapathi playing the Sri Lankan drums. Today at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre, at Cotta Road, Borella, pianist Harsha Makalande is in concert with Ravi Bandu Vidhyapathi - Sri Lankan drums, Nesan Thiagarajan - Oriental percussion, ably supported by Alston Joachim - bass guitar and Shiraaz Noor Amith - acoustic drums. What can the audience expect from your concert today? "It's been some time since I expressed my music on the Sri Lankan stage and I have created three new compositions in the jazz idiom with Sri Lankan and Indian elements, which will give Ravi Bandhu and Nesan Thiagarajan many opportunities to display their wonderful artistry on their percussive instruments. All the solos by the musicians will reflect an Asian treatment, and the inclusion of a Latin influence is always a winner with the audience and so some of the pieces I've chosen will be a fusion between Latin, Indian and Sri Lankan music. Jazz has always been my big attraction and my vision has always been to give my music a Sri Lankan identity and I have succeeded. When I performed at Jazz Yatra in 2002 with Alston and Shiraaz introducing the Sri Lankan element in my music, we were overwhelmed by the audience reaction to Sri Lankan folk and traditional ragas. It was very encouraging. Alston and Shiraaz have been your regular rhythm section "I can confidently say that Alston Joachim rates high as a bassist in Asia, I should say he is the top. With both of them playing for me, I can rapport with them easily - because they are alert to my musical moods and always anticipate what I'm going to do, which is comfortable" So catch the creative and sophisticated music of Harsha Makalande at this special concert today at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre 7.00 pm. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Ever since he started studying Classical Piano at the tender age of six
years, Harsha Makalande was encouraged by his mother Sita to study all
styles of music he was attracted to like pop and jazz, the latter now a
forte of his.
