Coverpage to cheer Cricket

Ishara Jayawardane

On February 19 the battle of the Titans of World Cricket will commence and Coverpage, a hitherto unknown name, will take the stage to cheer the Lankan Lions. Their music is bound to be exhilarating to the crowd, as it is a labor of love for Sri Lanka in the name of patriotism.

The song Lacup was done by Coverpage. Coverpage consists of three youths: Radesh Raddella, Manjula Fernando and Dumidu Jayawardane. In addition to the band, three girls helped out with the song: Danodya Yapa, Punsala Abeynayake and Inshira Dawood. They are separate individuals but not in the group.

“The song is called the Lacup. It has a reason behind it. All the lines in the song, when you take the lyrics it ends with la, similar word la. So we thought it might make a difference and we decided to make it lacup. It was a Coverpage idea. It is the basis of this name.

We will be launching the song probably on the February 11 but the place has not been confirmed yet so we are on the fence about the date. We will be getting the video finalized tomorrow.

On February 19 at the curtain raiser, which will be at Kandy, we are planning to perform there. We have got the permission and the invitation as well.” Said Punsala.

There will be other performances as well by other artists. As for the video, Coverpage is done with the shooting and it has been finalized. The visuals are also done. The song consists of lyrics in English, Sinhala and Tamil. Sinhala and English lyrics were done by Coverpage and the Tamil lyrics by Inshira Dawood.

The English lyrics:

“Never Give up Sri Lanka
We are the best of the best
It’s time to play Sri Lanka
We know you will do your best.”

The band was formed six months ago. In anticipation of the World Cup the lyrics, music and recordings were done in four days. As a band, this is their first release. The band will get the opportunity to perform at the curtain raiser of the World Cup, courtesy of ICC Director Sri Lanka Suraj Dandeniya.

“I actually started music when I was schooling. My school was De Mazenod College, Kandana. I did music as a subject and after A/Levels I got to work with artistes, but not in Sri Lanka. I went to the US and had some vocal training with producers, because my passion is singing.

That is how I got into music and I did a music video at the US actually Dumindu did the guide track and in the US we did it in an American production house. And it was the first Sinhala music video done in US. It was also selected to world chart.” explained Manjula Fernando.

Manjula came back to Sri Lanka and did a music video with Dumidu and Radesh. Manjula worked part time there as a Marketing Manager and it was there he met Radesh and Radesh joined the duo. That is how the band came into being.

“I never studied music as a subject in school, however I liked to sing. So at Coverpage we did various songs of other artistes and that is how cover page came into being. We got a lot of responses and we were asked to do our own thing.” said Radesh Raddella The group approached Danodya, because they needed a female vocalist.

“Cricket is watched by everyone in Sri Lanka. There is no class distinction here, no religious divide. Everyone wants Sri Lanka to win. So we thought there might be some musical relevance here.

Now after winning the war there is peace and even though there still a racial divide everyone comes together at the cricket match to support our country.” Said Radesh Raddella “The best way to spread this message is through music. This is the opportune moment to spread this message when people come together.” Added Punsala

“I started music when I was ten years old. I studied under Tony Priyantha. I did music to the O/levels. Presently I am working in studios doing productions.” Said Dumidu Jayawardane.

“After we did the lyrics we felt the need for a female vocalist . We want to give a message about the peace so we needed the female vocalists. Punsala can sing really well because she had done music.

So we thought of getting her for the Sinhalese part and Danodya as well because she has done music. Danodya too has done music before. And then Inshira came in for the Tamil Lyrics and we found that she could sing as well.” said Manjula.

..................................

<< Artscope Main Page