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Keerthi Pasquel – a music legend

15 Aug 2020

By Ramith Deerasekara   The following are excerpts from an interview conducted by Ramith Dheerasekara and his students with musician Keerthi Pasquel.       Who was your inspiration in becoming a musician?   When I was small I never thought I’d become a musician, but there were people I liked and respected; I loved music; there were musicians whose voices I loved. Then, I started to sing their songs. But when I first started my career, I learnt different things from many people. For example, I learnt how to dress well from Sisira Senaratne, a musician who dresses neat and tidy when on stage. For about four years, I played the guitar and sang in the chorus as a backup singer at Nanda Malini’s concert “Sathya”. There, I learnt to work on time and according to a plan. I dreamt of becoming a doctor, an engineer, and playing in the percussion band of the Army. Ultimately, however, I gave up on those dreams and became a musician.   What was your first song?   “Hanthane Nil Kanduweti Athare”, which I sang in 1981. The music was by my brother, Padmasiri Pasquel, and it was written by Hemasri de Alwis. I had a friend called Sunil Dharmasena, who gave me a chance to record a cassette of 12 songs under the “Amila Record Label”. So I asked my brother to write the melody and Hemasri de Alwis to write the song. The cassette was released in 1982.   Do you think the music industry in Sri Lanka has changed a lot over time?   The Sri Lankan music industry, from the 1900s to the present time, has flowed differently. In the beginning, songs were made based on “Nurthi” songs; later, music was produced for stage dramas; under the influence of the Portuguese, “baila” was formed; and then, when movies started appearing in Sri Lanka, the music was made by Indian musicians. Musicians in Sri Lanka went to India and Sinhala songs were sung by Indian musicians. Indian-based music has been famous since the beginning in Sri Lanka. Afterwards, Sri Lankan songs were interpolated using Hindi songs by using its melodies and then putting Sinhala words to match those melodies. Musicians like Sunil Shantha, Sanath Nandasiri, Victor Rathnayake, W.D. Amaradeva, and Premasiri Kemadasa tried to create songs that were indigenous to our country. Under their influence, we took this road. In the ‘60s, pop songs became famous, and then calypso music, band music, music using electronic instruments, and eastern instruments were added as an orchestra, and it developed like that. Later, using developed instruments and other accessories, more modern songs were formed.   Who is your favourite artist?   My most favourite singer is Neville Fernando. I’ve liked him since I was small. I trained using his songs; it was ideal for my voice and genre, so I sang a lot of his songs. He died on 26 May 1976. He introduced calypso music to Sri Lanka and did background singing for films.   Who was your first music teacher?   I went to school at Dharmaraja College, Kandy. My first music teacher was M.G. Perera when I was in primary college.   You have students who learnt from you in the Sri Lankan music industry. Can you tell us something about them?   I have a lot of students I helped in this industry, and I’m happy that I was able to help them rise in the music industry.  

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