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| Sunday, 27 March 2005 |
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Billy - totally musical His stage name is Billy, but his registered names are Deloraine Kenneth Fernando. But no one calls him by these names. Not even his parents! But Billy Fernando is a young highly talented and formally trained multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, bass guitar classical trumpet and keyboards.
A first meeting with Billy and you get the feeling that he is reserved - far from it. His dishelved hair-look which he tells us "is my normal hair do, when I'm on stage, it is a different act for me! But I love to hang out in running tracks, T-shirts and slippers. Despite his regular musical career, Billy is an entrepreneur at heart. He runs his family's business venture the manufacture of guitars, well recognised in Sri Lanka. "My goal in life is to make Tennyson guitars into a big commercial and recognised instrument. In my factory I have five guys working on the manufacture of guitars and in a month we turn out 30 to 40 guitars. We handle a lot of repairs and also turn out custom-built guitars. All my creative talent is expressed in manufacturing guitars and I feel elated when an instrument is turned out according to my ideas." Ezra is a group that needs a lot of support from music lovers - not that they don't have it. But the next time Ezra gets on stage for a concert, be sure you make a definite date with them. Their commitment to gospel is strong and under the guidance of Billy they take you on a pleasant musical adventure which leaves you amazed at the talent of the members. "Not only gospel, I like Western classical and Indian serious classical music. I'm into rock - pop rock and classic rock and my favourite rap star is Will Smith. He is a kind of jocular rapper and he has a flair which keeps you
rooted watching him," expresses Billy. Oh we nearly forgot, his birthday
is on April 22 - so there you are girls you can SMS your special message
to him!!
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He's a singer as well and he bubbles with enthusiasm. He wants to get
his five piece gospel rock band Ezra on the top rung of popularity. The
group has a CD 'Nazrene' behind them and last year in March Billy staged a
concert 'The Calling' with his band members to collect more funds to put
the CD on the move. Ezra at that concert comprised Billy Fernando -
guitar/vocals, Joshua - rhythm guitar/vocals, Romesh - drums, Yohan - bass
and Dale playing rhythm and lead. He's a free lance musician as well. He
plays also with 'Acid Rain', for Bathiya and Santhush and at the other end
of the musical stretch is a regular with classical music orchestras,
playing trumpet and percussion. 
