Billy Fernan take to the s celebrate 15 the local mu

Billy Fernando is a musical chameleon. Having started out as a guitarist in the Gospel band “Ezra” he moved on to drumming for the duo Bathiya and Santhush, before embarking on a career in singing in the Sinhala stream. This November Billy will be taking the stage once again with ‘Ra Ahase - Live in Concert’ to celebrate those 15 years he has under his belt as a professional singer.

Together with his concert band 2Forty2 and twenty five musicians, which include a string and brass quartet, Billy promises to perform some beloved classic sinhala songs with a fresh perspective. Infusing western classical music and Latin brass, Billy hopes to create what he calls Sri Lankan music with global appeal. But its not “modernization” in a conventional sense he says but rather an elevation of the music for global consumption.

Billy gained attention both here and abroad among Sri Lankans, for his remakes of old Sinhala pop songs like that of Amaradeva’s Having toured the world, including Australia and the United Stat the reception t been positive young as well a erations abroa him the young of Sri Lankan expats who g to their parent’s music don with it and so assume all Sr is the same. “They go to a B are like wow, this is also Sr Billy explaining how the y tion finds a new apprec Lankan music once they c But by working with the m erations before, he’s introd new sound through the son iar with. Essentially Billy i bridge an inter-generationa “Its like giving someone w curry some hot butter cuttl it,” says Billy.

The challenge the music according to Billy is to m music appealing not only