Ten years of evolution, musicality, fellowship and ten years of entertaining the masses...what more reason could anyone need to celebrate? The Old Joes Choir (OJC) has come a long way since their inception in 1997, but have always maintained their goal of being 'out-of-the-box' and entertaining.
In celebration of their 10 years together as a choral group, the OJC presents Timeless Echos – The Highlights of a Decade Long Musical Journey, at 7.30 p.m., on August 30 and 31, at the British School Auditorium. The OJC has always been ardent believers in the evolution of choral music in Sri Lanka and have attempted the chorally impossible and successfully transformed them into choral masterpieces!
This year's choir leaders Rehan Almeida and Shevanka Fernando share with us the nitty-gritties of getting the show on the road and all the hard work put in behind the scenes!
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"Timeless Echoes will feature the best of the OJC over the last decade, each with a new twist, whilst of course maintaining its authenticity and freshness. The choir will also add a few new numbers to their repertoire, in keeping with their usual style of sheer musicality and entertainment value," says Rehan, of the show in a nut-shell. This year's choral direction will be under the musically diverse trio, Migara Luvis, Eshantha Peiris and Geethika Cooray.
"There's quite a substantial mix of old hands new blood in the group this year," says Rehan adding, that "it's always a good thing as, they bring in an element of freshness to the group, which coupled with the seniors' wealth of experience and overall talent, can only result in a total win-win situation!
"This has been a completely new and challenging experience for me but, it has been a fun ride, which can be mainly attributed to my partner-in-crime – Rehan. It's never been just the two us doing everything, we've got a lot of support from the seniors," says Shevanka, whilst Rehan chips in that, "virtually every decision to do with the show, from song selection to actual arrangements, it was most often decided on unanimously." Especially as many of the songs this time, have been 'work-shopped' – meaning that they have been a joint effort by the whole choir and been created on-the-go, he added.
"It's also great to have Eshantha back, as he adds a completely new dimension to the show and as we don't have a mini orchestral ensemble backing us this time around, it's all being taken care of by the genius of Eshantha," added Rehan enthusiastically.
"It's been really commendable of the guys must really be commended this time around, as they've managed to finish learning everything within just two months, so, we have plenty of time to polish up now. They've also been very much more involved in the whole process this time, and it's been quite a disciplined yet, fun experience for us all," said the leaders in unison appreciatively.
Safra Deen will be a guest artist at the show, whilst Kamalini Samarakoon on piano, Christopher Prins on drums, young percussionist Rakitha Wickramaratne, Sarani Perera on lead guitar and Uvindu Perera on bass from Triloka, will accompany the choir. The OJC extends a big thank you to Shehal Joseph, Thishya Weragoda and Rasika Surasena for their time, effort and photography. The choreography for the show will be done by Jerome L. De Silva, costume design by Jehan Aloysious and costumes by JoJo.
The main sponsor for the show is Air Arabia, and the co-sponsor is Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC. The Sunday Times is the official Print Media Sponsor and TNL Lite is the Official Electronic Media Sponsor. Tickets will be available from this week at the British School Auditorium.
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