Muse in the music
Amalshan Gunerathne
‘Nevi’im’, a unique musical duo comprised with Arjun and Vije - or
else previously known as ‘Dhas Brothers’ - seeks to craft a
revolutionary transformation in musical industry. They will be featuring
an exceptionally distinctive music style of their own. As bizarre as it
may sound, through music they anticipate to spur a formidable challenge
against the adverse effects created by burning global dilemmas.
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Arjun Dhas |
“Scientists come up with information such as global warming, resource
depletion and fuel crisis. That will create catastrophic conflicts in
the years to come. We are actually putting forward a form of music which
provokes you to think about these kinds of issues. It has a very
intellectual discourse on these issues, I hope.” Arjun expressed in a
very resolute tone.
Nevi’im’s music is designed to raise an alarm against such threats
which plague the modern world. The band name ‘Nevi’im’ is in fact
derived from a Hebrew word which refers to an ancient tribe of people.
The tribe used to foretell future and warn rulers about perils and
threats that can wreck havoc in days to come.
Both Arjun and Vije are not amateurs to music. Vije first played in a
band called ‘High Octane’ in 1999. Then he moved on to a band called
‘Whirlwind’ and also played for the popular heavy metal band ‘Stigmata’
in 2005. Arjun has also been a guitarist for two rock bands: ‘Tantrum’
and ‘The Sword of Spirit’.
The duo hope to add much needed energy and rhythm to the stagnant,
monotonous contemporary music styles by introducing an exceptional brand
of music – something which many have not tried before.
Vije expressed: “We tried to combine various genres to form a very
unique brand of music. We also combined it with various musical
cultures. So in our music there will be elements of rock, combination of
eastern ragas and western scales, Persian melodies, etc. What we are
actually aiming to do is break free from genres.”
Nevi’im will perform a special Thaipongal day concert at the Sri
Kathireshan Temple Hall, Bambalapitiya, on January 15.
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Vijay Dhas |
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The band in
performance |
“Thaipongal is a time in Tamil culture where you look forward for
future with new hopes and aspirations. We want people to look at the New
Year in a very positive attitude and the concert is organized specially
to arouse a sense of optimism among people.” Arjun expressed their grand
motives.
Elaborating more on their motives Arjun went on to say, “Right now we
are catering to an educated audience. We are actually trying to get this
across to the more educated people who can think about it and who are
also in a position to do something about it. We want to speak to the
people in power and the people at top to actually do something about
it.”
Yet it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will address only a one
sector of the listeners. They hope to take music to densely populated
dense areas such as North Central, down south, Kurunegala, East and
North provinces.
“We want to bring in a violinist and a Tabla player to our group to
add variety to our music. After that we will be able to bring in vocals,
not normal vocals, but vocals with very different styles. We also have
material for an album and we are preparing to record it somewhere early
this year.” Vije explained the project.
With so much yet to come, Nevi’im promises to be in good shape to
bring out a very refreshing change to the Sri Lankan music industry.
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