Happenings / People

Pop's best

by Mahes Perera

"Seasoned performers who are entertaining and versatile, and who are musicians with true talent as they described in the Dubai newspapers, Sri Mirage or Mirage, as we Sri Lankans know them, are having a successful and popular run at El Rancho, the night club at the Marco Polo Hotel in Dubai.

Donald Pieris and his band of men, now four in number perform six days a week, Mondays to Saturdays and are 'indisputable favourites' with the guests who patronise the night club regularly.

According to Donald they are on a long-term contract, but will be back in Sri Lanka during the Ramadhan season to renew their friendships with their fans. Mirage hopefully will be performing for special occasions then.Their talent is professionally unlimited, and they are entertaining and extremely versatile. In the Battle of the Bands held last year in Dubai, Mirage won second place, when according to reviews in the newspapers they rightly should have been the winners.

However, the experience of battling with international bands in a competitive level gave a boost to Sri Lanka and put our country on the world map. Not that our musicians are unheard of, but Mirage's stage performance, their showmanship and technicalities cannot be disputed.

We know who comprise Mirage. There's Donald on drums and vocals whose artistry is well acknowledged, Kamal Perera a wiz on guitar and vocals, Melantha Perera powerful on bass and vocals and Chamal - keyboards/vocals. Gavin Senn - saxophonist was one time member of Mirage, but now he is playing with Benjy Ranabahu's band Aquarius in Dubai.

So watch out for Mirage's special performances when they jet back home with their up-dated pop repertoire that's extremely elastic.

Petikiriya awards

The weekly SLBC Petikiriya programme produced and presented by the popular Radio and TV personality Srimath Indrajith Liyanage will celebrate its first anniversary on Thursday May 25. To mark the event a special awards ceremony entitled Petikiriya Prasada Pranama Ulela will be held at SLBC's Ananda Samarakoon Studio at 5.00 p.m. on this day.

The programme broadcast on the SLBC Commercial Service (Sinhala) on Sundays from 7.00 p. m. to 8.30 p. m. is directed by Mayuri Abesinghe and features a live chat show with leading personalities in the educational, literary, political, cinema, arts, sports, social, religious and various other fields.

Many leading and popular names were interviewed by Indrajith Liyanage this past one year, and all of them will be given awards in recognition of their participation.

At the awards ceremony, live dance and music presentations will be interspersed for the entertainment of the audience.

Chandani releases debut CD

IT took some time for Chandani Silva daughter of the veteran Freddie Silva to release her debut CD, but now that it is on the racks, she is elated by the response the CD has received from her fans. In fact, as she tells us the CD is quite popular in the Middle East as well as in New Zealand where the Sri Lankan population has snapped up her album with speed.

The CD titled Sanda Kinduree contains fourteen tracks with musical backing by Rajiv and the Clan. A host of writers have helped Chandani with her album including Rohana Hettiarachy, George Senanayake, Rajiv Sebastian, the late Hemasiri Halpita, Vernon Perera, Sarath de Alwis and Lal Thenabadu.

"My father would certainly have been happy, as I have dedicated the CD to my parents. To think that my father never allowed me to sing in public. I could sing only in church or in the school choir and not even at SLBC, when I was young! But when I was twenty I turned professional and joined Summer Breeze and worked gigs in Hong Kong, England, the Maldives, Oman and Dubai.

Coming back to the CD my brother Janesh duets with me on two tracks, Kohomba Kaley and Sata Pata Dong. The CD was produced, and digitally mastered by Torana Recording Studio and is distributed by Torana Music Box, effuses Chandani.

The music arrangements for all the songs are lively and effective, most of them in up tempo. Supem Hengum and Porondu are two good standouts, as well as Rasa Gee which is hip hop, in keeping with the times. With her clear and strong voice, Chandani's selections are entertaining and the CD is sure to be a seller for her.

MP