Shashika says 'no'

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

SHASHIKA Nisansala has said "no" to a considerable amount of money, which she could have easily earned by singing abroad during the last two years.

Shashika Nisansala has turned down about 40 tours that came her way to perform in several Middle East countries. She could have made a million or two had she accepted these tours but she didn't.

I asked her why?

"I had to say "no" to these tours because I don't travel alone. If I should travel I travel with my father," she said.

But many female artists go abroad all by themselves with members of their bands or other singers and return to the country. Are you scared to travel alone or is it because you don't trust people?

"You cannot trust people by their looks. That is one thing. But that's not all. If a show organiser is really keen to have my singing in a musical show overseas, I am sure he or she would buy an extra ticket. Because that is the way I am going to come," said Shashika.

The singer from Deraniyagala of the Kegalle district came to the limelight through the "Thurunu Shakthi" programme for her sheer singing talent and her gifted voice.

Among the songs which hurled Shashika to stardom are Paramitha, Kiri Vehera and Tholpethi Vitharak.

The village lass has a steal determination to stand by her policies.

Didn't you take any trip, then?

I did. I went with my father to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Australia, Maldives and India on six occasions.

But you missed 40 trips, that means you have lost a quite a lot of money by rejecting them. Is all this because of your parental restrictions?

I don't call that parental restrictions. I 'd rather call it parental protection. My parents have guided me this far. Shashika Nisansala is here thanks to them, she said thoughtfully.

Quintessentially Quink

COLOMBO music lovers will be in for a treat this festive season with the performance of the widely acclaimed capella group Quink - a Dutch band of five professional singers, whose performance in Colombo on Tuesday 5 December at 7pm at the British School auditorium, a part of their Asia Tour, promises to be an evening of sheer sensory delight.

The Ensemble is being sponsored by the British School in Colombo, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Commercial Bank of Ceylon and MIT Cargo (Pvt) Ltd.

Quink comprises five professional singers from the Netherlands who have developed a unique sound that allows them to illustrate with style and expressiveness the great variety of a cappella music.

Cappella music is vocal music or singing without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way.

A cappella is Italian for in the style of the chapel; the term is due to the fact that Christian churches sang without instrumental accompaniment for the first several hundred years of its existence.

In the modern parlance, the term applies to vocal performers who refrain from performing with any instrumental accompaniment, though some emulate the sonority of instruments with their voices and microphone effects.

Arrangements of popular music for small a cappella ensembles typically include one voice singing the lead melody, one singing a rhythmic bass line, and the remaining voices contributing chordal or polyphonic accompaniment.

Quink's repertoire varies widely and consists of a cappella music of Renaissance and Baroque as well as works by Romantic composers. Moreover, the ensemble often performs folk songs and close harmony arrangements and it concludes its performances with lighter audience-pleasing pieces.

Quink has been a welcome guest at music festivals all over the world with tours in the United States and Europe. Their performance in Colombo will comprise Christmas music in keeping with the festive occasion.

Critics have praised their performances as an "evening of sheer vocal beauty" with The Courier-Journal Louisville's poignant review, "Results that anyone should adore. It may be lunacy to jump so vividly from style to style, to seduce listeners one moment and tease them the next, but Quink regards such variety as intrinsic to its mission."

Key to the ensemble's success is how the singers treat every component of their recital, whether it be from the 16th century or the 20th, as being worthy of complete respect.

Quink needless to say, having won worldwide acclaim, promise a spell bound evening that will herald the holiday season with a rendition of classics such as O Jes£ dolce, Ave Maria, Follow That Star, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas among many others.

Tickets are now available at the British School Reception located adjacent to Borella Cemetery on the Elvitigala High Way, from Monday to Friday between 8 am and 5 pm.

Moody Blues from 1964 to 2006

THE Moody Blues are a British rock band originally from Birmingham, England. Founding members Michael Pinder and Ray Thomas performed an initially rhythm and blues-based sound in Birmingham in 1964 along with Graeme Edge and others, and were later joined by John Lodge and Justin Hayward as they inspired and evolved the progressive rock style.

Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their seminal 1967 album Days of Future Passed.

The band has had numerous hit albums in the UK, US, and worldwide, and has seen several additional musicians come and go, and they remain active even as of 2006, with UK and US tours scheduled.

Luv ya The Moody Blues formed in the early 1960s in Erdington, Birmingham, England. Ray Thomas, John Lodge, and Michael Pinder had been members of El Riot & the Rebels, a regionally-popular band.

They disbanded when Lodge, the youngest member, went to technical college and Pinder joined the army. Pinder then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats and enjoyed moderate success.

The pair recruited Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick, and the five appeared as the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964.

The name developed from a planned sponsorship from the M&B Brewery and was also a subtle reference to the Duke Ellington song, "Mood Indigo". Soon, the band obtained a London-based management company, 'Ridgepride', formed by ex-Decca A&R man Alex Murray (Alex Wharton), who helped them land a recording contract with Decca Records in the spring of 1964.

They released a single, "Steal Your Heart Away" that year which made it onto the charts. But it was their second single, "Go Now" (released later that year), which really launched their career, being promoted on TV with the first ever purpose-made promo film (predating The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever/ Penny Lane" by approximately 2 years), produced and directed by Wharton.

The single became a huge hit in the United Kingdom (where it remains their only Number 1 single to date) and in the United States where it reached #10.

Wharton left the management firm and, after a series of unsuccessful singles, Warwick and Laine departed the group. They were replaced by Pinder and Thomas' El Riot bandmate, John Lodge, and Justin Hayward, formerly of The Wilde Three, in 1966.

The band soon realised that their original style of American blues covers and novelty tunes was not working for them and decided to develop an original style.

Their new style, featuring the symphonic sounds of the mellotron and Ray Thomas' flute, was to be developed in a concept album revolving around a day in the life of everyman.

The album plus two singles, "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon", became massively popular, as was the 1968 follow-up LP, In Search of the Lost Chord.

Also included on this album is the song "Legend of a Mind," a song written by Ray Thomas in tribute to LSD guru Timothy Leary which encompassed a masterful flute solo performed by Thomas.

Justin Hayward began playing sitar and incorporating it into Moody Blues music, having been inspired by George Harrison.

The band's music continued to become more complex and symphonic, resulting in 1969's To Our Children's Children's Children - a concept album based around the band's celebration of the first moon landing.

Derek on Guitar Secrets:

Get Flat with Minor

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

GUITARISTS, In Tune will not leave you stranded. Here is Derek Wickremenayake of Wild Fire on guitar secrets. By the way Derek wants you to practise all the scales given so far by him in this column, major, dominant 7th , and minor scales.

Derek is giving you A Minor 7th flattened 5th scale in the key of A, this week for your repertoire.

Fret with correct fingers. Begin slow. Go for accuracy. The speed will come. Derek's mantra of course.

You should know your fingers by now I = index finger, M = middle, R = ring and P = pinky or the little finger on your left hand.

This scale work well with minor chords.

The notes in this scale are the same as in Bb Major Scale. A is the 7th note in the Bb Major Scale. And the chord is A minor 7th flattened 5th (A minor b5). Learn this scale.