Arts
Back on stage
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Pic by Ranjith Perera
This June, Dr. Manella Joseph retires after 41 years as a doctor but she has no intention of retiring from her second passion in life: music. Where music is concerned “No wild horses could stop me!” she says.
Multi-talented with a warm personality and full of energy and enthusiasm for all areas of her life, we covered everything from her upcoming concert, her love of the Beatles, and Adele’s melodies to kidney disease, as she patiently explained how to examine a slide under a microscope during our meeting. Dr. Manella is truly inspirational; she is a successful Histopathologist, mother and singer/song writer. She may be retiring from her medical career but when it comes to music she explains she has plenty of dreams still to fulfil.
Dr. Manella has had a long love affair with music and in particular singing. Her career started at just 19, when she, her four sisters and one brother created the band the ‘Winslow Six’. In the early 1970s, the group were at the forefront of Sri Lanka’s music scene; a very popular act who released an album, making appearances on TV and performing before live audiences. They were Sri Lanka’s very own Jackson 5! However, as the siblings grew up and their lives moved in different directions the group parted ways but Manella never lost her love of music and continued to write alongside her other career.
But how did she juggle her medical career, family and music? “Writing doesn’t take much time, only five or ten minutes here and there!” says Dr. Manella. Her songs all have stories and she urges that she is not a commercial writer at all. Her inspiration comes from personal events or those of her friends and family and she explains that when something in particular strikes you, that is what makes writing easy.
She is now busy preparing for her forthcoming concert ‘An Enchanted Evening’ on May 7 at the British School Auditorium at 7 p.m. The show will include a whole variety of songs; old and new, performed in both Sinhala and English. She also enjoys altering songs and making them her own, particularly putting a Sri Lankan twist on Western classics. ‘Help’ by The Beatles is a personal favourite, but she has taken the ‘rock’ out of the song and given it her own personal edge by translating the lyrics into Sinhala. “I am determined to show it to Paul McCartney one day!” she jokes.
You can tell by her sense of fun that her performance will be exceptional. Joining her on stage will be one of her daughters on back-up vocals and there will be a different band to previous performances. She will be accompanied by piano, cello, double bass, violin, flute and even some Oriental percussion. Her vision is to amalgamate Oriental and Western sounds in order to bring in some Sri Lankan flavour into her pieces. In music it is so important to have your own unique style, she says and she doesn’t imitate anyone. Dr. Manella believes Sri Lankan artists cannot simply copy Western singers. Instead, “we should elevate the genre and add a Sri Lankan flavour into what we do.”
As usual she will be donating the proceeds of her concert to charity. This time her chosen cause is the Crippled Children’s Association in Sri Lanka and she is thrilled that they have been so supportive and are really involved in the event. They will be present at the concert which makes the evening even more special in her eyes.
Retirement for her will be the start of a new journey where she will have time to write and perform and place music at the centre of her life again.
Tickets will be priced between Rs. 1,500 and 500. To reserve your tickets, contact Dr. Manella on 0777188028.