Entertainment

Our national treasure

by Mahes Perera

The golden voice of Victor Ratnayake will be treasured for posterity with the release of the CD 'Gehanu Lamai Ne' . The CD contains the time honoured hits of his, eighteen in number including songs like Maliniye , Mal Pokuru Pokuru , Ithin Eeata Passe , Sanda Ken Wesila and Kohe Sita Oba Peminiyedo .

The CD is being recorded by Siyatha FM (Voice of Asia Network Pvt. Ltd) and CIFL (Central Industries and Finance Limited). These organisations have realised the need for the younger generation to know and appreciate Victor Ratnayake's contribution to the Sinhala music scene.

With his Sa series of solo performances, which commenced at the Lumbini Theatre, Havelock Town way back in the month of July of 1973, Victor courageously proved to musicians and audiences that solo performances display the versatility and artistry of a musician. The series met with success, so much so, over the last thirty five years. Victor Ratnayake has been performing 1,500 shows and is still much in demand.

Now with the compliments of the Bank of Ceylon his Aradhana programme series which was broadcast over the Sinhala Service of the SLBC has been televised for telecast on ITN commencing on January 7 at 9.30 p.m. on Mondays weekly.

Victor will be featured on four programmes in the month of January which were filmed recently at the Bishop's College Auditorium with audience and thereafter singers like Sunil Edirisinghe, Neela Wickramasinghe, T. M. Jayaratne and other leading singers will be featured. The programme series is compered by the writer Sarathchandra Pathdanduwana.

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There's no place like home

by Mahes Perera

In town for the festive season is saxophonist Ricky Senn who says that he had several happy moments joining our musicians and playing along with them at many gigs. This is the time of the year that all musicians looked forward to and come back home to enjoy the excitement of our festive season which is not available anywhere else.

"When I came back I was invited by Sudu of Ultimate fame to join them at most of the band's gigs and it was a good scene. New Year's Eve, what we all look forward to was fabulous. We were at Hilton Colombo, it was full house and the excitement was intense.

I'm in Norway it's never like this, that's why I keep coming back," says Ricky who teaches the clarinet, saxophone conducts marching bands and choirs. An old boy of St. Peter's College he was a member of the choir under Fr. Claver Perera, and is also a multi instrumentalist and plays the bass, clarinet, hand flute and oboe.

What tips would you give a young musician on his first gig? "I'd say practice before you go to the gigs. Go through all the songs till you get fed up of playing them, that's when you know the song inside out. Don't take short cuts.

Some guys play the melody lines with alternate notes. Then the melody line changes. This was driven into me by my guru the famous musician teacher Miki Menezes. To be a good musician be humble and ask advice from other senior musicians. You learn every day. You have to commit the music to memory. So constant listening is important." What other profession would you like to be in?

"I used to work at Colonial Motors. I like cars and putting them on the road again. Or maybe I would like to open a restaurant. I like cooking so I can combine cooking and music. Who knows I may come back and do my music, the restaurant business or tinker with cars!"

Ricky's musical career in Sri Lanka started off with the Gaylord Revival, then Intrigue with Revel Crake, Kathy Menezes, Verna McLeod and Ray Gomes. There was Ice and Fire next, then Galaxy with Noeline, Climax with Rodney Rabot and the Adrian Ferdinands Combo which took him to Norway.

He will be back in March this year with his band Safari for performances at the Colombo Hilton "There's no place like home" concludes Ricky.

Karl Katz in action

With the dawn of a new year the music scene gains momentum and leading musicians and singers will gather today at the CR & FC to interact musically with one and another to give lucid jazz expressions to their creative artistry.

The opening set at 1.30 p.m will see the youthful group AD in a Latin and Salsa mood led by Shehan Perera - guitar and vocals, Ashan de Silva - guitar, Timal Jayamanne - bass, Senaka Perera - drums/percussion, Kanchana Wickramanayake - keyboards.

The group will be joined by Hans Mater - congas. The featured group will see bassist Basil Paiva leading a group of experienced musicians with Dilukshi Sirimane - piano, Rodney Rabot - guitar/vocals and Royle Andrews - drums. Saxophonist Ricky Senn and the Karl Katz Ensemble will also make their appearances.

Pearl Fishers in town

The French opera of a love triangle set in Sri Lanka by Georges Bizet goes on boards at the BMICH on January 9 and 11.