Glory aims for greater heights

By Rashika Fazali

If I were to compile a list of the most overplayed commercialised English songs performed by Sri Lankan musicians, the first song would be ‘Summer of 69’, then ‘Long Train Running,’ ‘Buffalo Soldier,’ ‘Hotel California,’ Sweet Child of Mine’ and so on would top the list.  It could get a tad overrated, don’t you think?

Glory, the five member multi-genre band, hopes to change this by performing songs that are not commonly played to the Sri Lankan audience. Glory Band Leader and Bass Guitarist Sahan Silva explained: “We want people to listen to good music. Musicians in Sri Lanka try to make people listen to the same songs over the past 30 years like ‘Summer of 69’. There are other great bands with great songs that people don’t really tend to listen to. We want to make people listen to these great songs and improve their taste in good music. Glory would like to make a difference in the music scenario in Sri Lanka.” In other words, hit songs aren’t the only available good songs.

Sahan revealed that many bands have advised them to think more of the audience and play commercial music, but he and the band believe in playing what they love and in their goal of enhancing people’s music knowledge.

He added: “Many people have told us to play Sinhalese songs and Baila numbers because people love them. They’ve told us that we will get more bookings and weddings. But it’s not about the money. Money is important, but good music is important too. There is a market for every music genre in Sri Lanka. If you build up a particular market for yourself, then you will have good business, but you have to go into the right crowd. So that is what we are trying to do.”

Glory was started in 2010 by Sahan and lead guitarist Shane Vas. The band was soon joined by Janith Chathuranga, saxophonist and keyboardist, Sanuka Wickramasinghe on lead vocals and Lakshan Fernando on drums. Janith later on left the band and was replaced by Hasitha Maduranga.

They are currently the residential band at Qbaa, playing on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 p.m. Earlier they performed at Margarita Blue on Sundays for around eight months.

From what I’ve seen and heard, Glory is undoubtedly a talented band that covers all genres from oldies, pop, funk n soul, rap, techno – you name it, they play it. However, they don’t stick to playing the most popular songs, but the next best songs by great artistes. Recently they performed at ‘Xtaztic 2013’ where they played a selection of oldies and new songs by the likes of Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Bruno Mars and more.

Sanuka, son of former band member of Siha Shakthi Sangeeth Wickramasinghe, is an extraordinary vocalist who adds his own perks to his singing with beat boxing elements and voice effects. Glory. as a band, literally breathes life into the term ‘live performance’.

Now here’s an interesting part about Glory: Most of the members of the band are children of famous musicians. Shane’s father, Ranil Vas is the guitarist of popular band Gypsies. Sahan’s father, Neelesh Silva who is also the band’s mentor, was also a musician.

Sahan stated that his father constantly supports the band in many ways. “He is with us all the time. He is our mentor. He goes with us everywhere. He comes to all our gigs to support us and he sorts all the technical difficulties. He does not let us worry about anything.”

Glory’s musical influences come from some of the world’s best musicians. “Stevie Wonder is one of the best musicians the world has ever produced. We love Michael Jackson. He is like a God. James Brown, he is very good,” acknowledged Sahan. They are also a huge fan of the ’70s American R&B band, Tower of Power.

With big dreams and big plans, two years down the line, they have made their mark. Glory has plans to shoot a music video hopefully this year although Sahan asserted that they are still not keen on doing one yet as they have a huge market to win over. “We want to catch the club scene and change it into the band scene from the DJ,” stated Sahan.

However, they have plans to release their originals by this year or next year. Glory is currently planning on setting up their Cover concert and launching their website at the first Cover concert. They are also set to perform abroad this year.

“Music is a way of living. It’s a culture. This is our culture and our way of living,” stated Sahan, adding, “Not everyone is born to become a musician. People who are born to do music should do music. If you treat music well, music will treat you well. We live it. We love it.”