It’s ‘Ecstasy’ time again

The music lovers still remember one of 80s popular band ‘Ecstasy’, who rocked the scene at the popular night club, ‘Colombo 2000’ of Galadari Hotel and at the ‘Little Hut’ of Mount Lavinia Hotel in the early 90s. The band call it a day at the end of 90s. Almost after twenty five years, the reincarnation of ‘Ecstasy’ happened in early January 2024.

Thirty five years ago, a young journalist, attached to now defunct newspaper ‘Sun’, left the job to take up music as his full time career. Nobody expected him to lead his band for almost two decades, but he did through storms, ups and downs.

Sajith Muthucumarana, the leader of the band ‘Ecstasy’ has never taken ‘no’ as the answer. After his musical career with Ecstasy, Sajith has gone back to his favourite journalism career and followed by banking sector work.

‘But I never be able to get the music out of my blood. So after retirement from my day job, I thought of getting back to what I really love- the night job’ Sajith said.

‘Earlier I wanted to continue as a solo singer and even I released my original song ‘Sara’ last year. But I know, working as a band gives me more excitement and enthusiasm’ he added.

The new look Ecstasy came alive in early this year under the guidance two of its original members, Sajith Mutucumarana, the then founder/ leader on bass and vocals and Keerthi Samarasekera on keyboards and vocals. The rest of the present lineup comprises of Sumith Jayaratne on lead guitar and vocals, Kamal Ileperuma on drums and vocals and Dilini Ileperuma as the frontline female singer of the band.

‘An interesting feature of the band is that all members handle lead vocals, bringing the much-needed variety and dynamism to singing’ said Sajith

While all the guys have years of experience performing with many other local bands, the female vocalist, Dilini comes with a musical academic background. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts, and a lecturer at SLTC Research University. She doesn’t have the run-of-the-mill voice and Sajith feels she will be a big plus to the band and a singer to be reckoned with.

‘The present Ecstasy lineup, with the combination of experience and young enthusiasm, is equipped with a wide repertoire of songs from English retro to modern-day Pop and Sinhala classics of the Clarence era to more modern hits and of course ‘baila’ to suit any occasion’ Sajith explained .

The band currently performs at ‘The Warehouse’ (TWH) café & bar down Vauxhall Street, Colombo 2, where they cater to a mixed audience and is on the lookout for a limited number of venues to perform regularly in and around Colombo.

For more details call Sajith on 0771719570

Ecstasy: Sumith Jayaratne, Dilini Ileperuma, Keerthi Samarasekera, Kamal Ileperuma and Sajith Mutucumarana.