Desmond De Silva tribute concert at BMICH this Saturday

The stage is set to honour one of Sri Lanka’s versatile singers this Saturday (July 13) at the BMICH. ‘Honoring the Legend Desmond De Silva’ is the latest concert presented by DK Promotions to celebrate the late singer’s life in song. This concert would be Desmond’s life story, taking the audience down memory lane to where he began his career in music. The show will commence at 7 pm.

“We want to go back to where he started with his band ‘Fireflies’, ‘Spitfires’, ‘Jetliners’ and eventually his own band ‘Desmond and the Clan’,” said Damayantha Kuruppu, owner – DK Promotions.

 “He performed in Sri Lanka and in Europe for almost 15-20 years. At this concert, Dalrene Suby will cover the songs that were popular with Fireflies and Spitfires while Mignonne Fernando will sing songs that were popular with Jetliners. There is a special song composed by Mignonne and its lyrics were penned by late Karunaratne Abeysekara. It’s a Sinhala duet and what is unique about this song is that Desmond won a medal after he sang this song in Athens,” Kuruppu added. 

Two members from Desmond and the Clan- including Benjy Ranabahu who was the band’s first bass guitarist and Keerthi Abeywickrama who was the lead guitarist- will add more glamor to the concert. “During the first half of the concert Mariazelle Gunathilaka will pay a tribute to Desmond. Having presented so many shows for Desmond including his 50th anniversary concert, Rhythms of Sri Lanka and his 75th birthday concert held in 2019 or 2020 at the BMICH, this concert will indeed be another special one. I will remember Desmond by singing two songs, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow which is the English version of ‘Nim Him Sewwa Ma Sasare’. Desmond was flown down all the way from England to sing this particular song and he shared the stage with Pandit W. D Amaradewa. He was quite proud about this moment as he was given an opportunity to share the stage with Amaradewa. The second half of the concert will include popular Sinhala songs sung by Desmond De Silva.”

The lineup of this three and half hour concert has been designed to bring back memories of Desmond. Kuruppu affirms that this would be one of the finest concerts to honour the legend.