The man, the voice and the power of the love song
All time singing legend wows Colombo’s Last of the Romantics
Why should an eighty year old man, a singing legend for over fifty years, who has earned a star on every walk of fame and captured the hearts of over million women and is a multimillionaire to boot, come down to Lanka and sing his heart out to a few thousand in a Colombo hall? And do it two nights in a row? Merely because his fans asked for more?
His appearance and his stunning performance on Sunday and this Monday - extended by special demand, even though he was scheduled to perform only for one night in the Lankan capital - at Colombo’s Convention Hall, proved the Confucian truth that if the job you do is something you love doing, then you will not have to work a day in your life.
And his total dedication to his art was self evident that Sunday and Monday night, when he gave a performance that will not be easy to forget for all who heard him sing, as he transported his audience to a wonderland of entertainment by night that was out of this ‘ ll Mondo" which lit Lankan eyes as they remembered the way it used to be in their very own winter world of love, walking hand in hand with their sweetheart before it became too beautiful too last.
For one hour and forty five minutes and more, he sang his all time hits, spicing the music with jovial banter, still shaking a leg to his Ten Guitars before finally singing the song that had made it possible for him to meet his fans and the fans to meet him: Release Me. And that was not all. Coming back for one more, he sang ‘ For the Good Times’ but not before he called upon the crowd to loosen up and come closer to the stage and join him as he sang farewell - to meet again in another time, another place.
Long after great singing sensations have had their genius blown out like candles in the wind at a much younger age, Englebert Humperdinck and his friendly rival Tom Jones still play their song at venues worldwide when they can well afford to be snuggled up in bed. Why they do it, why they bring joy to millions the world over, why they give and share with the people their God given talent to bring cheer to the multitude, prove their generous nature. Stardom has not made them selfish but only selfless. And it is to that spirit of human nature, fan or no fan of his music, that humanity must pay tribute.