Of hip hop father and daughters

The Silvas, popular Hip Hop and R n' B act of Switzerland are in town. This family musical combination comprises father, two daughters and the son. 'Silvas' is the brain child of Mano Silva formally of Dream Team, who settled down in Berne, Switzerland many years ago. Silvas comprises Mano and his daughters Komali, Mihiri and son Benjamin 'I didn't want a fancy name for our group. So we decided to call ourselves Silvas. That is our surname and I am really happy to call like that. Even I named my son Benjamin, in tribute to my dad' he said.

Mano is a professional IT person and he works in Geneva.‘Music is our part time work. I just don't want to give up my music and that's why I formed this outfit' he said.

Mihiri, Komali and Benjamin too are still doing their studies. Mihiri is in the Designer Fashion School in Berne, while Komali is doing her higher studies in Insurance Marketing in the Swiss Insurance Business College, one of the oldest insurance schools in Europe. Benjamin, who is the youngest of the group, is doing his College Diploma in Insurance.

'We are not attached to any particular nightspot on a regular basis. But we really work during the weekends. We travel around the country and only once we performed outside Switzerland. Silvas do lots of private functions and special gigs, who require good dance music' said Mano.

Our style is Hip Hop and R n' B. We do it in style. We don't blindly follow the originals But we bring in a little bit of our own into the cover versions we do' Mano described. Komali did say she's influenced by Beyonce's singing style and follows her style on stage.

'Benjamin is our rapper and he raps in German too. He creates his own raps and he is fantastic on stage. But the only problem is he goes solo sometimes and we miss his service. So I decided to do rap and believe me I am doing it pretty good' Mano said 'We don't believe in downloading stuff. We create them ourselves and sing live absolutely live' he added.

'I want to thank few people for giving me encouragement to come up this far. Nimal and Angie Perera, Riza Samsudeen , Asiri and Thilak, not forgetting my parents, who, didn't discourage my madness' Mano said.