Rukshan Perera is no stranger to Sri Lanka’s music scene and every year this amazing musician dedicates his concert to a worthy cause. As he prepares to enthrall audiences this year, he took time out to speak to Esteem about life, music and his love for humanity.
How would you define your connection with music?
I was blessed to be born to a musical family in the musical town of Moratuwa. My mother Mrs. Trilla Perera was the music teacher at Princess of Wales College Moratuwa and a church organist for almost 50 years. Music has been a big part of my life since I was a child and my mother is the reason for all what I do in music.
As a musician you not only sing, but also play instruments, compose and even do a little bit of acting. What made you get in to being a musician or what inspired the spark?
I had my first piano lesson at the age of five from my mother. Since guitar bands were becoming popular at the time, I quickly switched to playing guitar. With the little music I knew at the time, I formed my first family band at the age of ten, composed our originals, and performed our songs at a musical program at Radio Ceylon with Dr. Vijaya Corea at the age of 12. While still schooling at Royal College, I performed for the popular 70’s bands “The Golden Chimes” as the guitarist under Chanaka and Lankika Perera and with “The Super Golden Chimes” as the keyboardist under Clarence Wijewardena and Annesley Malawana, and then toured Asia and Europe with the bands “Esquire Set” and “Serendib” with Raj Seneviratne and Indra Raj. I was able to manage other instruments and in most bands I was in charge of arranging music and harmony for the western songs.
I took a break from professional music and relocated to the United States to continue higher studies and completed a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, and an MBA in Management at City University of New York. While in the university I joined the Jazz Band as the Lead Guitarist/Vocalist and studied under Milt Hinton, a famous African American Jazz musician in the US. After adding Jazz to my repertoire, I performed a series of jazz concerts at the Whitney Museum of New York for 5 consecutive years. After my graduation I worked with Philip Morris International for 20 years at the International Headquarters in New York and in Switzerland as a Manager Systems Development, travelling extensively in Latin America and Europe.
What made you return to Sri Lanka?
I left Sri Lanka early and have lived abroad more than half of my life. When I retired early from my IT career in the US, my wife and I decided to come back to Sri Lanka to make a difference in our homeland. When we decided to return to Sri Lanka, I also wrote a song titled “Coming Home To You”, and you meaning Sri Lanka. In the lyrics there’s a line, “give me a chance to lend my hand, Sri Lanka I’m coming home to you”, and this is precisely what we started doing in Sri Lanka. We go back to the US every year for a family reunion with our children and grandchildren.
Why do you always connect your concerts with a charity and why the Celebral Palsy Centers this year?
We cannot expect the government alone to take care of all the special needs in Sri Lanka supporting the sick, poor, differently abled, mentally challenged…etc. To bridge that gap, several charities and service organizations have come forward doing marvellous work helping in several areas – cancer hospitals, differently abled children, underprivileged, promoting peace and reconciliation, teaching ethics and values, road safety, water and sanitation….and the list goes on. I am a past president of the Rotary Club of Colombo Metropolitan that does fabulous work in several communities and also a trustee with Unity Mission Trust that promotes peace and reconciliation throughout Sri Lanka. I feel it is our duty to support such charities if we have the ability and if we have talents – be it music, art, acting, sports…etc. I am blessed that I am in a position to help such charities in a small way through my music and otherwise. Every year I raise funds at my concerts for a deserving charity and also perform at various other concerts, sing alongs and other events for dozens of charities as well. Cerebral Palsy is not well known in our country and there are 40,000 people affected in Sri Lanka. While raising funds for the Cerebral Palsy Centers in Jaffna and Kurunegala, the concert will also raise awareness on Cerebral Palsy.
What is your opinion on the music industry in Sri Lanka? What do we need to do to make it better?
Sri Lanka has produced several talented musicians, composers and singers. Every generation produces fabulous musicians/singers, and it only gets better. Though the Sri Lankan market is small compared to the US, India and several other countries, our musicians are passionate in what they do and always try to achieve the best. I would like to see more composers of English music in the future.
How can music be used to take Sri Lanka to the world?
Unfortunately, Sri Lanka is behind other countries promoting English originals that can be aired internationally. We need several parties to work together to make this happen. Radio stations need to promote local English originals and audiences need to appreciate local English originals at concerts and on radio. If this is promoted, I am sure more Sri Lankan composers will come forward with their English originals that can go international. Currently, since originals are not promoted, the musicians take a back seat on originals and continue to entertain audiences with cover songs at night clubs, lobbies, concerts and dances. I hope this will change soon and give the younger generation the boost they need to go international.
In this regard, I decided to promote English originals in Sri Lanka and began my concert series “Rukshan Perera Live In Concert” 10 years ago and I do ONLY my originals, all English except for a few Sinhala songs thrown in every year. My originals come in various forms, pop, jazz, blues, acapella and fusion and with this variety of styles of music, I entertain the audience who also have grown a liking to my songs. This is my 10th year concert doing all originals, and yes there are audiences who appreciate originals and I hope the youngsters will do more in the future.
So, to answer the question, we must encourage the youngsters to compose songs, radio stations must promote those songs for the audiences to familiarize with the songs and watch them perform live at concerts. The next step is to take the good songs to the international market.
Quick Fire:
Favourite Song to Perform: I enjoy performing Mr. George Benson’s songs because I like scatting with my guitar – a jazz skill for jazz singers/guitarists.
Favourite Singer (International): George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel.
Favourite Singer: (Local) Natasha Rathnayake, Kevin Almeida
Dream Concert Venue: Madison Square Gardens (New York)
Motto in Life: Find the satisfaction in helping others. Written by Nishu Gunawardana