It’s a show that will feature three generations of singers from one family. The Bahars have left an indelible mark on the local western music scene and this concert brings them on stage together for a rare family show ‘Live in Colombo -The 3 Generations’ on September 18 at Water’s Edge.
This story of course has to start at the very beginning – in the Swinging Sixties when Ishan Bahar was “ beat - boy extraordinary” performing with The Jetliners, a beat group which revolutionized the music scene. They had a repertoire that spanned Elvis, Cliff Richard, Ricky Nelson and other greats of the time. But his career in advertising saw Ishan making an early exit from the music scene.
He never forgot his first love though. Thirty years later in 2000, Ishan took the stage again at reunion concerts of the Jetliners in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia which was followed by another in Brisbane in 2002. In 2004, the Jetliners performed two final concerts at the BMICH and at a dance at the Coconut Grove of the Galle Face Hotel, which was their “home” reminiscent of the Sundown Dances of the 60’s.
Ishan reappeared at son Ricky’s request to perform alongside him at Legends in Concert in 2009. Now he’s here again with his family to entertain audiences in his own inimitable style.
Ricky Bahar, a chip off the old block is the one whose name resonates in music circles today. Extremely serious about his musical career, Ricky in his teen years was trained by none other than classical singer Lylie Godridge. World famous voice trainer Seth Riggs of Speech Level Singing International of Las Palmas, Los Angeles (Josh Groban and Michael Jackson were some of the voices trained by Riggs) auditioned Ricky recently and seeing great potential in his voice has offered Ricky a six-month training course along with a probable recording contract with one of the leading”labels” in the United States.
In Seth Riggs own words: “ I was able to give Ricky a half hour studio time which was adequate for me to assess his vocal capability and to confirm that he has enormous potential to further his career, which would be worth pursuing under my guidance. I am willing to take Ricky under my wing to further his vocal talent and assist this young man, to help him realize his ‘dreams’.
Hadia Galely of Mantra Moods, Ricky’s Manager who was instrumental in arranging the audition by Seth Riggs is hopeful the 3 Generations Concert will raise funds to help Ricky along his journey to LA.
Ricky’s musical career spans 25 years starting as the lead singer of the Steelers, who rocked the local music industry up to the late 90's till they moved to Germany. Ricky then performed with Alien Accent releasing a 12 track CD of originals containing 10 tracks voiced by Ricky.
Ricky’s association with Imran Pakir Saibo of Funtime has seen him performing at leading corporate functions locally and across many continents to international audiences in Australia, China, Thailand, Maldives, Dubai and Los Angeles USA , across cities in India such as Mumbai, Cochin, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Goa, Delhi to name a few. Ricky had the honour of being judged ‘Best male vocalist’ for two years in succession at the ‘Golden Clef’ Awards and went on to win the Best Male Vocalist and Male Pop Star of the year at the ‘Island Music awards’ thereafter.
Local audiences are now seeing the emergence of Shyanne, Ricky’s daughter, a talented and versatile singer. Just 17, her passion for music has led Shyanne to take up recording engineering as well, under the guidance of Ranga Dassanayake , lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo. She is currently being trained by Eshantha Peiris.
Shyanne has just completed her first original, composing, arranging the music track and recording the song all by herself. Her song list for the concert is a mixed bag with her own renditions of chart toppers and she will also perform with Ricky and her grandfather, Ishan.
Guest artistes at the show are two leading choirs VoicePrint and the Revelations, both ensembles that have won the hearts of audiences. Triloka, led by Eshantha Peiris will provide the musical backing for the show. |
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