Maldives to the rescue!

The Maldives seem to have come to the rescue of some of our musicians, who continue to find the going pretty tough in Colombo.

Quite a few did emplane for the Maldives, during the festive period, to entertain guests, holidaying at some of the top resorts over there.

Merlina and her husband are doing the duo scene and so is Shafi and his daughter.

There are quite a few others who went as solo artistes – mainly for Christmas and New Year events. And, most of them, I believe, will be back soon.

Manilal Perera found work coming his way, as a solo artiste, at a luxury resort in the Maldives.

He did the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve scene at the Heritance Aarah resort – a 40 minutes ride, by seaplane, from the capital Male, said Manilal.

Merlina and Suresh: Duo scene in the Maldives

Manilal did his thing with a Cuban duo and they did light up the place, I’m told, with their infectious music.

The resort, according to Manilal, is patronised by rich holidaymakers, seeking the excitement and enchantment these resorts have to offer.

Surprisingly, our folks, connected with tourism, are still not in a position to attract such tourists to our beautiful beaches…and resorts.

One of the guests, at the Heritance Aarah resort, was the famous Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti, who is also popular throughout the Spanish-speaking world as he has released some of his albums in Spanish, as well.

Manilal describes his stay in the Maldives as exciting.

“Although I’m fully vaccinated, with the booster, as well, I had to spend four days, confined to my room, at the resort, before the fun began.

“Christmas Eve was beautiful as we did all the lovely songs, connected with the festivities, plus Cuban music, my music, DJ music, etc., at the Bandhi Pool Bar.

Meeting up with popular Italian singer Ramazzotti, at the Heritance Aarah resort

“And, there was so much of excitement on the night of 31st December, as well, and I’m hoping to get back to Colombo, sometime this week.”

While in town, Manilal will continue to do his thing as a solo artiste, backed by a keyboardist or guitarist – no more Upekkha.

“The lobby scene is what I plan to do – similar to what I was doing before my Maldives trip.”

Manilal also went on to say that right now, due to the pandemic, the scene, in Colombo, is not conducive for bands.

“Duos can find work but it’s hard for a band to have any kind of work coming their way, on a regular basis, and so I decided to call it a day where Upekkha is concerned.”