Turning on the ‘Spotlight’
The young performers at the “Ashanthi School of Music” took to the stage recently to stage – ‘Spotlight’.
Pix by Amila Gamage
Held at the British School Auditorium, it was a miracle the stage could bear the talent that weighted it down that evening. The first powerful performance of the 30 piece show, was a medley of Adele’s “Hello” and Ranidu Lankage and Ashanthi de Alwis’ “Oba Magemai”. Ashanthi herself took lead vocals backed by her senior choir going on to perform ”Sarah McLachlan’s “in the arms of an Angel”.
The evening wrought about a variety of nostalgic and contemporary music, with a wonderful blend of senior and junior performances from a reverberating version of “When We Were Young” to the innocent rendition of the Jackson 5’s “Ben”.
This being the Ashanthi’s school of Music, it was foreseeable to see some big names in the music industry present that evening – however to see those names climb up the stairs and join in on the performances was unbelievable.
Starting off the first star studded performance was Bathiya and Santhush. The choir soon joined the well acclaimed duo for a performance of their classic “Na Na Ne”.
Bathiya reached out to the parents that evening sharing his own experiences as a young singer taking classes in music – saying that if their children showed passion for the arts, parents should “nurture that fire”. “Don’t leave room for them to become adults and look back and say “I could have done that.”
The young soloist who followed did justice to Michel Buble’s “Feeling Good”. What was so noteworthy about his performance was not highlighted in his vocals alone but the natural carefree, showmanship he had when performing leaving the audience awed.
One of the more intimate performances of the evening “Oba Gawa Mama Innemi” was a mellow comeback that plucked heartstrings. Followed by Umaria, who was also a former teacher at the Ashanthi School of Music, as she joined the ranks of celebrity performances with “Hanthana Sihine” and backed by the senior choir in “Denuwan Piya”.
Kicking off the second half of the show the junior and senior boys happily sang “Saw Her Standing There” and “Uptown Girl”.
As a young energetic soloist took on the king of pop’s “Black or White” hitting notes and pitching falsettos with great accuracy for his age.
Climbing onto stage the last big name that night Randhir, with backing from the senior choir, delivered a flawless performance of “Mal Madahasa” and “Too Good at Goodbyes”.
Another young soloist staged a moving performance with a diverse vocal range with a simple rendition of “Perfect”. Among the notable follow ups as one female soloist moved and grooved to the late Amy Winehouse as she took on “Valerie” whilst the other soloist appealed to the crowd with her funky take to the classic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.
Ending the evening with a toe tapping finale the mature young artists showed a wide range of their showmanship and vocal prowess with closing numbers “We are Young” and “Flashlight”.
