Indra Raj and the sound of the Shadows

by Mahes Perera

If you are a die-hard Shadows fan and have always been turned on by that distinctive twang of their guitar, then you have the opportunity to relive their music when the well-known guitarist Indra Raj is in concert in Sri Lanka with his band 'Move It. Indra Raj of Jetliner's fame formed the Rock N Roll band 'Move It' in the nineties playing the music of the Shadows and earned a name for himself and the group.

'Move It' has appeared as the supporting act for Barclay, James, Harvest, Buddy Holly's original Crickets and Bill Hayley's Comets. It was not long after he left Sri Lanka that he made a name for himself with the international Shadows community with concerts in Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. In most of these concerts he was joined on stage by Brian 'Licorice' Locking and Alan Jones, both ex-Shadows bass players.

In 2005, he was overjoyed when Bruce Welch of the Shadows in England, invited Indra Raj and Move It to perform at the yearly event Shadow mania. In 2005, it was the first time and ever since then Indra Raj has been performing early. Malcolm Campbell, one of the world's foremost commentators on "The Shadows" wrote in one of his articles "Indra Raj lead guitarist of India and Move It, one of the tightest and most imaginative groups ever to have emerged on the Shadows circuit.

Move It will include Roland Heimach on rhythm guitar Stefan Gut on bass guitar, Junior Weerasinghe on drums, Manie Fernando - piano with vocalist David Roberts from England.

Recognition

Question: When you started your musical career in Sri Lanka you gained recognition as a guitarist. What made you choose this instrument and not the saxophone or the piano?

Answer: The reason why I chose the guitar was that I was fascinated with it after seeing The Shadows performing with Cliff Richard in the film 'The Young Ones'.

Their hit Apache which was not featured in the film was to loosely borrow a phrase "the tune that launched a thousand guitars" in the pop music scene then.

In those days many teenagers wanted to be like their idols, to go on stage and impress the girls! I was one of them. What better instrument than a guitar for a front liner.

My first guitar was built by Peter Fernando. It was not an expensive one, but one that I could afford. It didn't look like the guitar used by my hero Hank Marvin, but it served the purpose.

But I told myself that I should try and build one - a log guitar. Unfortunately it sounded like one - a log! I can remember using a bicycle brake as a tremolo aim! Later on, however, with money coming in through gigs I bought myself a Japanese Kawai guitar. This was the guitar I was playing when I first joined the Jetliners.

Changes in music

Q: Undoubtedly you are a die-hard Shadows fan, how long do you think you could keep on playing this type of music in the face of many changes in music globally?

A: I think I could confidently say that I should be able to carry on for some years with this type of music. In recent years there has been a revival of instrumental music in countries such as the United Kingdom, Holland, Scandinavia and USA. The Scandinavians and Americans go more for surf music, such as the Ventures and Los Straitjackets whereas the British go for the more sophisticated guitar sounds of the Shadows.

Q: Obviously since you are a fan of Hank Marvin you must have over the years drawn influence from him. How much of it is Hank Marvin and how much of it is Indra Raj?

A: My style of playing is based on the sound of Hank Marvin of the early sixties even though with my band 'Move It' we play some of the surf instrumentals as well.

The biggest compliment I ever got was when Hank's school friend and band mate with The Shadows, Bruce Welch in a BBC interview referred to me as the Indian Hank. Bruce has invited me four times to perform at his annual Shadow mania event held in England.

The Shadows with Cliff Richard when they started off were an outright Rock 'N Roll band. A music magazine called them the Sex Pistols of the Sixties. We hope to recreate this era in music at our concert on August 17 and 18 when I perform with Junior Weerasinghe on drums and Maxie Fernando at the piano, at the Bishops College Auditorium.

Stage performances

Q: After you left the Jetliners when they were at their height with the 'Sundays at the Coconut Grove Cult' you came back for some stage performances, do you miss the Sri Lankan appreciation of music and how does it compare with your Switzerland fans?

A: When I was back in Sri Lanka performing as one of the Jetliners in 2004 and even early this year, I was happy to perform before such an appreciative Sri Lankan audience. They are not exactly the same as the audience in Europe, though one shouldn't generalise. The Italians for example are very much like the Sri Lankan audience. Very warm and sincere.

That's why I'm looking forward to the concert in August. Sadly for all the Jets fans our concert in March 2013 was the last one by the original Jets with Harris Jurampathy, Anton Gunewijaya and myself. I am the youngest in the band! I was happy I came back and played at the concert and met my fans and friends.