An intimate Christmas concert that raised the bar with powerful and mesmerising performances. Christmas Is Here was a sensational show to say the least.
Organised by Sound Scope, the show featured powerhouse vocalists Andrea Melisa, Melissa Pereira and Sheaam Deen with Lydia Goonetilleke on the Violin, Tilanka Jayamanne serenading the audience with the flute, Christopher Prins on drums, Shobi Perera on the double bass and Nuran Gomez on keys.
The event was held at the Russian Cultural Centre on Independence Avenue, Colombo 7, a small but comfortable venue.
The show maintained an ambience, elegance and wit (Tilanka), while preserving the quintessence of Christmas through the performances of some favourite Christmas tunes and carols.
They were far from ordinary or regular. Each tune was carried out with a twist. From the switch up in rhythm to the mash ups and medleys, the songs kept the audience wanting more.
Andrea Melisa had the audience swooning with her rendition of Santa Baby which began with the singer playing the ukulele and the band joining her later which made the overall performance that much better! Her version of Let it Snow/Baby It’s Cold Outside alongside vocalist Sheaam Dean was an unexpected but feel-good medley performed exceptionally well.
Melissa Pereira, a prominent figure in the music industry wooed the crowd with a very special rendition of Hark the herald angels amongst other famous tunes. If there was ever anyone worthy of the line “The voice of a nightingale”, it would undoubtedly be Melissa Pereira. Her calm composure and powerful yet soulful voice had us starstruck.
Yet another powerful and mesmerising vocalist, Sheaam Deen did justice to his many tunes and showed off his talents with his vocal gymnastics which were quite soothing and melodious than most other artistes. His rendition of The Christmas Song would be right there with all other international artistes. The singer with his dashing style and pop/soul mixed voice serenaded every single individual in the audience.
The night also featured a special segment which singled out the instrumentalist who undoubtedly put up the best performance of the night. Lydia Goonetilleke and TilankaJayamanne took over with sensational rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer during which none of us in the audience could stop smiling. The performance was intricate, in sync and extreme fun! The duo was backed by Shobi Perera (double bass), Nuran Gomez (piano) and Christopher Prins (drums). This performance stole the show and the chemistry between the two frontline-instrumentalists was remarkable.
The concert brought out a certain aspect to Christmas Concerts which Colombo had not seen before. The night was coloured with elegance, warmth and soulfulness.
For our bad luck, the night ended rather abruptly after just over an hour of performance which had most of us confused and expecting more but I guess that’s what makes it more exciting for the next one to come!
Hopefully there is more to come from Sound Scope with events such as this!
Bravo!