A musical hand to Easter Sunday survivors
Nishantha
Music brings with it a sense of hope and togetherness. It can also go a step further, with its ability to heal suffering hearts. This is the focus of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone: The Concert’, presented by Sound Scope in association with Zonta Sri Lanka.
The concert is a collective of musicians performing to raise funds for the families affected by the Easter Sunday tragedy. It will take place on August 30 at the Bishop’s College Auditorium, at 7.30 p.m.
All proceeds from the show will go towards Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s fund for the education of children who have been affected in the Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade attacks, and the Zonta Sri Lanka Chapter who will contribute funds to victims of the Zion Church.
Earlier this week, musical director Nishantha Warnakulasuriya and co-director and founder of Sound Scope Tilanka Jayamanne gave us an insight into the show.
‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is the second project in an ongoing journey to help the children affected by the attacks.
Following the devastating attacks, both Nishantha and Tilanka knew that there was something that they could do as musicians to give back to society. Their idea was to put together a tribute music video.
Tilanka
Fourteen professional artists came together in the first step of the project. They performed a mashup of ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon & ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Rogers & Hammerstein, the video garnering almost 58,000 views since.
The artists who had come on board had their own individual genres and varied musical talents, from vocals to instrumentals, and together all of them had wanted to do more to give back to society. From this, the idea to do a concert and donate the money to a worthy cause had developed.
The concert line-up promises a truly spectacular show, with vocalists like Chrisantha de Silva (CC), Daniella Perera, Melissa Pereira, Minesh Dissanayake, Monique Pallegama, Nathan Jim Eardly and Sheam Dean together with instrumentals from Christopher Prins, Lydia Goonetilleke, Pradeep John, Rukshan Aponso, Shevanka Fernando, Shobi Perera as well as Nishantha and Tilanka themselves. Guest performances from Camerati, the Old Joes’ Choir and the De Lanerolle Brothers are sure to delight as well.
Once the idea to do a concert had taken shape, they had to decide how and where they could channel the funds the project generated. Nishantha recalls them speaking to everyone they knew, until he managed to get in touch with Ramola Sivasunderam from Zonta Sri Lanka who had guided them.
When they approached the Archbishop’s House, they got to know of just how many children were affected by the attacks, as well as funds required for their education on a monthly basis.
The biggest challenge was to coordinate rehearsals, amidst the artists’ busy schedules. “We try not to disturb their schedules as much as possible,” Tilanka explains, adding that he and Nishantha are pleasantly surprised to find that some of the artists had gone to the extent of moving their schedules around or cancelling some of their gigs just to be a part of the project.
The band they’ve put together for the concert is a much bigger musical ensemble than what they had for the video, which gives them the ability to cover more genres.
For reservations and box plan, contact Shenelle Perera on 076 785 3293. Tickets are priced at Rs. 3500, Rs. 3000, Rs. 2500, Rs. 2000, Rs. 1500 and Rs. 900 (for balcony).
For more information log on to their event page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/484547578777191/