This Saturday will see the fourth incarnation of Bishops College’s Blended Beats, a fun festival of band music that will combine classical, pop, rock n roll and baila! The show will take place on the 20th of September at the Bishops College grounds and start at 5.30pm, going on till about 9.30.

Choreographer Heshara Silva

The school band is trained by T.A Greesy, who’s been with them since 1997 and who only needs to listen to a piece of music to figure out each part required to bring the song to life! A number of schools will perform including St. Josephs, St Peters, Visakha, Ananda, St. Thomas, St. Pauls, Devi Balika, Wesley and Carey College. There will be a couple of dance routines as well, and a unique segment of drum fusion that mixes Western and Eastern styles! The school choral group Magnetised and Sashini will perform as well.

The kids in the band start from age 14 all the way 18 and will even be joined by the Kindergarten band this year. This will be the junior’s first outdoor show! The show will start off with more of the classic pieces which will segue into rock n roll and end with a drum session.

Midusana Kumararatnam, the band leader, said that the opening song is one of her favourites. “It’s more of a brass band song, and I like the way we do it. I also like ‘Dance with Me Tonight’, it’s new and I think it has interesting musical parts to it!” Vayodya Rajakarunaratne, the Deputy Band Leader, as a drummer, prefers the beat-based songs. “James Last songs, I love the rock n roll beats. Anything to do with beats, I love it!” Midusana, who will conduct, will also carry on the tradition of letting the deputy band leader conduct one session. “This is the first time I’m performing for a show though I’ve done it in school before. I’m nervous but excited!” Vayodya said.

The dance segment is also one of the most exciting performances of the show. The hip-hop and salsa dance routine was choreographed by Heshara Silva and Hithaishi Peiris, two schoolgirls. “We wanted to do something different,” Heshara explained, adding “we were inspired by dance movies.”

The girls are most excited, however, for people to see the drum fusion performance that will unite the Western and Hewisi band on stage. The very first show had the two bands performing together but in recent years the show has focussed on the western band with cameo performances by the hewisi band. The item that will have both bands performing together, then is extra special, something they’ve been planning from the last show.

Altogether the show looks rather promising, showing a lot of variety and songs that will delight people of all ages! Tickets are 500 and available.

By Marissa van Eyck
Pics by Kithsiri de Mel