Royal- Thomian annual dance in Dubai:

Mirage 'revisits' pop music

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

When Mirage went to Dubai last week to perform at the seventh Royal-Thomian Annual Dance held at Renaissance Dubai Hotel in Deira, it marked a 'revisiting' of unforgettable music in the fascinating decades of popular music in the 60s, 70s 80s and the 90s.

Particularly so because members of the band, Donald Peiris (drums and vocals), Melantha Perera (keyboards and vocals), Derek Wickremanayaka (guitars and vocals), Gavin Sen (Saxophones and vocals) and Benji Ranabahu (bass and vocals), grew up to be musicians during these pivotal decades of pop music.

A member of the organizing committee of the dance, George Kulasekera of St.Thomas' College said they chose Renaissance Dubai Hotel as the venue this year because they wanted a grand celebration.

The show must go on, but nobody wanted a slow night. Mirage started the session playing Robbie Williams version of 1966 hit Something Stupid.

British singer Robbie Williams recorded it as a duet in 2001 with Nicole Kidman. Then they went on to play hits of 60s and 70s even Elton John 's 1982 classic Blue Eyes.

During the session, Derek threw Bob James' 70s jazz -funk classic "Take Me To the Mardi Gras." Although it seemed a bit too early to take anyone to Mardi Gras at the time, the carnival atmosphere was setting inside the hall. Mirage's guest artiste Sureshni Wanigasuriya chipped in with a session of BoneyM songs. She also sang Lambada and FIFA World Cup official anthem by Shakira Waka Waka.

Soon It was time to rock. Benji gave Pink Floyd classic Another Brick in the Wall. He does not need any education about that because he often gets requests to sing that song at Margarita Blue.

Laughter

A word about the Royalists and Thomians who were at the dance. They have gathered at the Renaissance Hotel with their families and friends from many countries. Some of them have come from England, Australia, USA and the Middle East. Gee Whiz !...3000 of them. You can imagine, the general roaring of laughter that was coming from old friends meeting friends after so many years.

Organizers

Let's not fail to mention about those who made it happen, the story of the organizers. From their point of view the challenge was to find a band that can entertain everyone because who wants to get bored . So they ran profiles, Here is one of them:

Mirage plays at Margarita Blue, Galadari on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They interact with the crowds splendidly and entertain them just fine. All players are professionals, They have been in the music scene for over 30 years and have performed in Europe, the Middle East and other countries. The outfit is professional and friendly.

Well, why not Mirage host the event's music? The organizers picked Mirage after deliberation. They had to give at least two good reasons to tell their members about their choice. The third one was always private, because all organizers liked going to beds with loads of praise for a job well done.

This they managed with Mirage very well.

It is worthwhile to ponder on how a band saw a better day doing a good job than to be the wise judge of every single song they played. "Criticize me in private but praise me in public." How about that for music theory? The In Tune met Mirage at Margarita Blue on Thursday after the band's successful tour of Dubai.

I asked the band's guitarist Derek Wickremanayaka about the gig. It was very good. The night ran until they had breakfast next morning. Nobody was bored," he said. He was the former lead guitarist of Wildfire.

How did you guys manage to pull it alright?

By playing the right sets of songs at the right time.

Is that all?

The anatomy of songs played as sets usually determines the outcome of the overall gig. The outcome was good because we did just that. Besides the chemistry was alright. The band's wide repertoire and its ability to play any genre of music, be it pop, funk, rock or country also helped. While Derek got busy with testing the sound of a guitar, Mirage keyboardist Melantha joined in"Things went well indeed. The organizers gave their fullest corporation to conduct the gig just the way we wanted to."

What do you mean by "just the way you wanted to?"

We were in full control. Suppose you start playing baila songs at the beginning of a function just because somebody from the crowd wanted them, who can tell where the show would go? The organizers made sure that we have the freedom to entertain them. The DJ started playing baila on a request of a guest. We limited playing baila to three songs since it seemed inappropriate at the time.

If you play baila at the beginning what are you going to play at the end?

Yes the show ran until the participants took their breakfast. Nobody got bored. We were playing baila. And the session went well, they said.