PRIYAN WEERAPPULI
Born in the small university town of Ames, Iowa; Priyan
Weerappuli began showing interest in music at an early
age - due, in large part, to the influence of his mother
(who has played the piano for much of her own life).
By age 5 her influence had drawn Priyan to take up the
piano, and by age 10, the trumpet. It
would, however, take an additional 7 years before Priyan's father, on
the eve of his 17th birthday, brought Priyan
his first guitar.
Having watched many of his friends attend formal music
lessons; Priyan began to view musicians as appearing to
grow into one of two types of performer - those who were
trained to follow in the footsteps of others; and those
in whose footsteps they followed. It was then, in
late 2002, that Priyan resolved he would not become one
of the former.
This would prove, however, to be a difficult task as he
had decided to do so by writing music in his parents'
native language of Sinhalese. Despite having had
some lyrical experience writing English poetry; Priyan,
who had been born and raised in the US, had little more
than a rudimentary (conversational) Sinhalese vocabulary
at his disposal.
Nevertheless, armed with a basic guitar chord guide, and
a copy of Malalasekera's 'Sinhala-English Dictionary',
Priyan sat down in his basement one night determined to
(at least) learn to play three chords.
Several hours later, despite the pain in his fingertips,
he managed to learn three basic chords - D, G, and A.
Within a matter of weeks he mastered these chords
(though Venura and Lochana may argue otherwise), and had
begun composing a number of simple three-chord songs -
one of these, with some lyrical modification by
Shirantha, would become the song 'Mihiraki Oba'.
In
early 2004, Priyan was introduced to the music of
Congolese musician Shungu Jules Wembadio (better known
as Papa Wemba - of the group 'Viva La Musica').
Finding himself deeply inspired by the free rhythms
demonstrated by Wemba's Soukous style, Priyan
began experimenting with these rhythms in his own
scompositions. In concert with Lochana's classical
guitar technique, Priyan composed several additional
songs, and re-arranged the music from one of his earlier
compositions - 'Siripada'.
Despite the years Priyan has invested in his personal
musical explorations; Priyan never hesitates to credit
his mother for having first introduced him to music
through the piano; and his father for having introduced
him to the guitar and the diverse catalog of music that
he, himself, had enjoyed as a child - an influence
apparent in the list of musicians Priyan often credits
with having influenced Pahan Silu's unique sound: Susil
Premaratne, Latha Walpola, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul
Simon, John Denver, Papa Wemba, Pandit Amaradeva, James
Taylor, Jimmy Buffet, Clarence Wijewardena, and Aventura.
VENURA JAYASEKERA
Born in the central highland city of Kandy, Venura
Jayasekera began his musical career at age 3 - the year
his aunt Ranjini brought home the family's first guitar.
Along with his cousins, Venura took his turn playing the
instrument, but much to his disappointment, found his
fingers were too small to wrap around the fret board.
It would take nearly three years before he grew into the
guitar. By age 6, a prolific musician himself,
Venura began learning to play children's songs due to
the influence of his cousins: Nilantha and Vijayantha
Herath.
By
age 10 he had begun performing with childhood friend
Malinka Jayawardena - with whom he started the band
Misfits of Music two years later. As the
academic responsibilities of their bandmates grew,
however, many found it difficult to meet Venura and
Malinka's rehearsal schedules, and within a year, the
boys parted ways.
Venura looks upon a comment received from friend Janaka
Somananda as having changed the direction of his musical
life. According to Venura, Janaka once paid him
the compliment of saying 'now what you have to do is
learn from a professional artist - someone like Mahinda
Bandara. No other person can teach you anything
hereafter.' After discovering, however, that
Mahinda did not offer private music classes; Venura
turned to guitar instructor Derik Wickramanayake - who
had performed with the group Wild Fire.
Venura credits Derik for having instilled in him an
interest in rock music.
In
late 2004, Venura left Sri Lanka for the United States
where, in Michigan, he would meet Priyan and Lochana.
According to Venura 'I was thrilled to see their passion
for classical and natural music.' Within a matter
of days Venura had joined, and become an integral
member, of the fledgling group, and is now considered
one-third of its creative core.
VANJULA LOCHANA TALAGALA
Born Vanjula Lochana Talagala in the city of Horana;
Lochana would call his birthplace home for only a
matter of days as, shortly thereafter, his family let
Sri Lanka for Abu Dhabi.
According to Lochana, it was here that his father
first introduced him to classical Sri Lankan music -
particularly to artists such as Pandit Amaradeva, Nanda
Malini, and Victor Ratnayaka (all of whom would later
serve to influence Lochana's musical style).
Lochana began his musical career early, at age 4, by
learning to play the piano. His father, Meththayan
Darshan Talagala, has long been a songwriter (as had his
father before him - Kularathna Talagala - Lochana's
grandfather), and it is their influence that
Lochana credits with having nurtured his own musical
interests and abilities.
At
age 6, Lochana began playing the guitar, and has since
mastered the entire spectrum of stringed instruments -
ranging from the guitar and mandolin to the violin and
viola. In addition to the guitar, violin, and
piano; Lochana also plays the saxaphone, and the
traditional Sri Lankan bera.
