70 minutes of pure entertainment with the “The American Song Book”
It was an evening to remember! The 400-strong crowd that filled the auditorium of the British School in Borella on Friday, May 27, not just revelled in the music but were thankful to Gananath Dasanayaka and his talented Band “En Route” for taking them down memory lane in virtual international style, to relive the American pop and jazz scene of the 1950s. It was a rare treat.
That “En Route” has come of age was evident by the panache in which Gananath sang the all-time favourites of famous names such as Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer, all popularised by the singer’s idol Frank Sinatra. The evening started with a jazzy version of “Too marvellous for words”. From then on, the audience was kept mesmerised for a full 70 minutes with the best from “The American Song Book” that included “I get a kick out of you” “Under my skin”, “Long last Love”,“Summer wind”, “Somewhere over the Rainbow” and “Bad bad Leroy Brown”. “My Fair Lady” was also not to be forgotten with “I could have danced all night” and “On the street”, all lapped with relish by the audience.
If Gananath was exciting to listen to, his bandsmen also excelled. The music dished out by Debbie Arnolda on keyboards, Dilip Senewiratne on piano, Niroshan De Silva on drums, Ramesh Nonis on guitar and the evergreen Maxwell Pieterz on double bass was enchanting. That “En Route” is a tight knit unit was evident in the professional manner in which they presented the concert with clinical improvisations at appropriate stages as was cleverly displayed in the rendering of “Somewhere over the Rainbow”
The guest artistes included the popular Shermain Willis who joined Gana in “The Lady is a Tramp” with a flair associated with an international performer. Kovindu De Saram who cut his teeth in the last “En Route” concert went on to delight the audience with his carefree imitations of Dean Martin and well received renditions of the unforgettable “Amore” and “King of the Road”. Adding a welcome tang to the evening was Biman Wimalaratne, the compere.“Bee Man” as he is known on stage was an integral part of the show and to use his own words a member of Colombo’s “Pack Rats” a name coined to recall memories of the “Rat Pack” days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. “Beeman” kept the audience in good humour and brought in a new dimension of thanking the concert sponsors through light hearted banter than formal acknowledgements.
The last song of the evening saw “American swing” at its best.Gananath backed lustily by his musicians, executed with a flourish the all time hit “New York” bringing the audience as close as they could that evening, to the “City that never sleeps”. There could not have been a more fitting finale to “Volume 11 of the Great American Song Book”. The question on the lips of the audience by then was; when will the next concert of “En Route be”?
While the proceeds of the concert will be donated to the Music Project for less privileged children to enhance their musical talents, “En Route” did not also fail to extend their sympathy and demonstrate solidarity with the thousands of Sri Lankans who recently suffered untold loss and misery due to floods and landslides with Dilip Senewiratne playing a moving medley on the piano of “Amazing Grace”, “Saint Thomas” and “A Train” in a style that could only belong to a musician of rare class.