The Great American Song Book Vol. 2 with ‘En Route’
View(s):The evening of 27th May at the British School Auditorium was a night to remember. An old, hacked cliché but so true. Here I was, with my wife and my family, arriving early, looking forward to a performance which we had missed many times before for one reason or another.
Shermaine
There was no rush to get in. We found our seats with ease. No need for ushers. We were promised a night of pleasurable music…and you bet that’s what we got.
The presentation was slick and quick. I could not believe I was being transported to a time of real music with such meaningful lyrics…every song performed by the stars of the night…and done so beautifully. A few silly moments were dished out, all in good spirit, by Biman Wimalaratne, who has returned to Sri Lanka after quite a bit of time spent in Australia.
Standing tall and strong was Doctor Gananath Dasanayaka who carried the show on his broad shoulders. No fancy clothing, just smart ‘Lounge’ and looking suave, each one of them along with the lady of ‘En Route’, Debbie Arnolda, in a black and white outfit that would have been the envy of many a woman in the ‘full house’ auditorium.
Kovindu
Opening with his rendition of the Johnny Mercer classic of 1937, ‘Too Marvelous’, Gananath set the mood for a nostalgic walk down memory lane. ‘Gana’ as he loves to be called went into his renditions of more Mercer, and Cole Porter. After ‘At Long Last’ Porter’s 1938 hit from the musical ‘You Never Know’ we were enthralled by the keyboard magic of Dilip Seneviratne who presented a potpourri of choruses, which included a part of ‘Amazing Grace’ (my 8 year granddaughter picked this) leading into an original rendition of the Judy Garland hit from ‘Wizard of Oz’, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’.
Biman
Then a surprise, for me at least, another doctor on board- Kovindu de Seram with not such a bad rendition of the Roger Miller hit of 1964, “King of the Road”, followed by the 1953, Dean Martin classic ‘hat’s Amore’.
EnRoute with Dilip (Keyboard), Maxie Pietersz (Bass), Niroshan de Silva (Drums), Ramesh Nonis (Guitar) and Debbie Arnolda (Organ) and with the ever-smiling Gana took us through Lerner and Loewe’s ‘On the Street Where You Live’ and Cole Porter’s ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’.
Back in front of the mic, comes Kovindu with ‘Memories Are Made of This’ with vocal backing from Gana & Dilip, trying to outdo the Easy Rider’s vocal backing on Dean Martin’s hit. It was fun. After which the two doctors gave us their version of ‘Me and my Shadow’ (Al Jolson – 1927) And then on to the stage walks the lovely Shermaine Willis to join Gana in Sinatra’s 1950 hit, “The Lady is a Tramp”. Then it was Biman’s turn to prove to us that he just cannot sing.
But it was all a part of the show. And we enjoyed his ‘Blue Moon’ with Kovindu holding a board with the lyrics. And as the evening drew to a close Gana presented us with ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ and ‘I Could Have Danced all Night’ and to a refreshing end with the now over-used and boring ‘My Way’ .And one and half hours had flown.
– Ishan Bahar
