Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

The previous greats are back
By Vidushi Seneviratne
Moved by retro music? Then there’s one event you need to be a part of. ‘Battle of the Disc,’ put together by Sri Lanka’s pioneer DJs, promises to be one mega treat.

Formed back in the 70s to coincide with the ‘Battle of the Blues,’ the event brings together the godfathers of Sri Lankan DJing: DJ Gabo, Harpo, Jerry and Priyanga, along with resident DJs Tareeq and Roshan. ‘Battle of the Disc’ will be reborn at the Frangipani Restaurant on March 12, from 9 p.m. onwards.

So what was it like back then in the DJ field? “The early 70s was a restricted time period so getting something like DJing going was an effort,” says Gabo Peiris. “Once I had stopped performing with ‘Gabo and the Breakaways’ I used my spare time to get this venture off the ground, starting the first discotheque ‘Cellar Disco’ at Dons Beach Hotel in Negombo in 1978.”

Says Harpo Gooneratne, “I was at hotel school when I got involved in DJing. Unfortunately, parents and elders frowned upon the profession. But with time I became one of the first entertainment managers in the country.”

With the main difficulty being getting a permanent venue of their own to spin their records, at the time, these industry pioneers opted to make the profession a mobile one.

Speaking of the limited resources available, Harpo added that the DJs in that era had to share their records with each other while performing at different venues. “For instance when a couple of us are DJing at different locations, we decide on which songs each one of us will be playing for every hour, making a playlist. Then once we are done with one set of records, we do a quick swap and take them to a DJ at another venue. We used motorbikes to switch and rotate the records amongst ourselves!”

Interestingly, the ‘Battle of Disc’ this year, which was initiated by Gabo Peiris, Harpo Gooneratne and Tissa Wickremasekara, will bring together Gerry Jayasinghe, who happens to be from the ‘opposite camp’. “This event is going to bring an interesting group of individuals together, since in those days when it came to DJing, Gabo and Harpo were together and I was their competition,” said Gerry Jayasinghe.

Having studied DJing in London, Gerry has been involved in the entertainment trade for years. “Parents were hesitant to allow their children to get involved in DJing as a profession in those days since it was associated with drugs and such socially harmful factors. But attitudes changed and the field as a whole was greeted with a receptive audience.”

The concept of nightlife in Sri Lanka, he says, was restricted in those days, and was more or less an underground affair. The real watershed in the DJ industry was the movie Thank God it’s Friday, which was based on a discotheque and introduced discotheque culture all around the world,” he added.

Speaking of the venue for this year’s ‘Battle of the Disc’ Gerry added that it had a personal bearing on him, since the owner of Frangipani Restaurant, Hemalalindra Ranawaka, better known as ‘Koluu’ is an old acquaintance. “So this would be an opportunity for those of us in the entertainment field to get together.”

So for a night of sheer entertainment get your tickets from Deli France (Odel and Crescat), Frangipani Restaurant, Barefoot Gallery, Pro-sound (Majestic City), Crescat (Box Office) or Exclusive Lines (Majestic City).

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