Soulful sounds of Jesse
Jesse Gamage, is a self-taughtsinger-songwriter born in South London to Sri Lankan parents who emigrated in the late 70’s. He managed to find his feet playing at “open mic nights” at live music venues around London for all most 12 years, which helped him develop his smooth and soulful vocals with a warm melodic sound.
While soul is at the core of his influences he also draws inspiration from Folk, Jazz, Acoustic and even Hip Hop. Recently he supported soul legend Raul Midon and funk diva Mavis Staples.
Having visited the island many times as a child his recent visit is his second as an adult to Sri Lanka; his first in 20 years was last October for his 30th birthday, where he played at the Melo Manic Session’s fourth anniversary. He describes coming here as “coming home to paradise on earth.” For those of you not familiar with Melo, it is a multi-venue experience that mixes genres with unplugged music at the forefront. Melo gives a disserved platform to the islands young artist to experiment and perform original music.
The latest edition of Melo was held recently in Galle in the courtyard of the beautifully restored 200-year-old Dutch colonial house, Wakwella Villa. Jesse who changed his flight to perform at the latest instalment of Melo;started his set with a cover of Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Like a Star” which he performed with his own signature sound and voice. He followed this by performing two of his own tracks. The crowd were thrilled with a new and unrecorded piece, hauntingly and fragile, “The Wake” which was written just before his visit. His second original track is called “YOLO” which means “You Only Live Once”. This track will blow your mind has he seamlessly mixes elements of funk, soul and hip-hop. If you ever get the chance to hear him live with the aid of his loop pedal, that he sadly was not able to bring in his suitcase, your senses will be enriched immensely.Unfortunately he has not set any future dates to return so far this year and is looking forward to the upcoming festival season in England and Europe. He expressed he was very impressed with the music scene in Sri Lanka, commenting that “I was pleasantly surprised at the very high proportion of talent for such a small island, while there are many live music venues Melo is one that provide an original source platform.”
At the moment he is promoting his Courage EP, the five tracks perfectly encapsulate his style of music and give prominence to his awesome soulful voice, which is available on iTunes and all other major download sites. For just a young artist he carries himself with the elegance and stature of a well-seasoned performer. Expect many great things from him.
