This year they celebrate 10 years of music and entertainment. When they started off `the De Lanerolle Brothers’ never thought they will come thus far, neither did they advertise or promote their shows or music, but their faithful always followed them wherever they performed along with a new audience.
The duo Rohan De Lanerolle and Ishan De Lanerolle met with us at Hilton Colombo to spill out a few things their fans do not know about them. “We sing all genres of music including sacred, opera, classical, gospel, broadway, Sinhala folklore and even Tamil songs. The journey has being wonderful for us in the world of music and entertainment. Reaching our tenth anniversary we feel satisfied to share the success with our family, friends, partners and sponsors, who have supported us right throughout. The love and support we have received from our audiences here and abroad have been inspirational. We look forward to entertain the audiences for many decades more,” Ishan said.
Marking their tenth anniversary the brothers planned to hold a collective of 20 concerts, 10 in Sri Lanka and 10 overseas within this year. The concerts will include a Gospel Show, a Sinhala and Tamil music show, a Christmas show, a dance show among many others. “The first show for the year was held for our Alma Mater S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia, with 1992 and 1999 batches of the school organizing the show. It was a wonderful experience to sing for the current children. We had our anniversary concert at The Water’s Edge, where we started. It was nostalgic as it was on the same exact date and place when we started ten years back. Out of the ten concerts we planned to have in Sri Lanka we have already completed four and the others will be held till the year ends including a Christmas Concert at Hilton Colombo, three concerts in Colombo, Galle and Kandy, a concert with Sinhala classic songs from yester year,” Ishan explained.
De Lanerolle Brothers have completed a few concerts overseas as well out of the ten. “We had a private concert in St. Martin Castle, Graz, Austria, another in a Dome in Venice, then in Herz-Jesu-Kirche the largest cathedral in Graz Austria, and we will have three concerts in Australia, in London, Malaysia and Singapore to complete the ten venues,” Rohan stated.
Duo says they have sung for audiences of fifty to fifty thousand in many places around the world including US, Austria, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy, Canada and Switzerland but their main love is to perform in their motherland Sri Lanka. However the brothers find the audiences abroad and here contrasting.
“Local audience is more laid back, I would say. They are more reserved and they enjoy music from their mind. Yet you can see the enthusiasm from their facial expressions. They might not get up from their seats, groove to the music or sing along but that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy the music. Overseas, the audience is very energetic. They dance, sing a long and once we had a standing ovation for more than four minutes and that was amazing,” Rohan explained. Ishan joined into add that most compliments they receive are Italian and German, ‘language is not a barrier to enjoy music. The different cultures around the world enjoy our music and even in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia the crowd is spontaneous and always on their feet,” he said. Rohan added that they are now used to both audiences and after all their aim is to entertain the audiences. “We perform for people at their request. How much ever we are tired after a show we make it a point to talk to the crowd. Sometimes before the show begins you can find us with the crowd. Reaction to our performance in each country is different but connecting with people catering to what they need has kept us going. That has been our success,” he said.
Brothers also believe that one has to do what one is best at to be successful in anything you do. “We are blessed with this talent. We can do what we do and that is singing. Each person is built differently. You have to understand your forte and perform within your limits. A good composer might not be gifted to arrange music. We have to understand our capabilities. Sadly today we see in Western classical music scene, the artistes have got their roles mixed up because of the competition. It shouldn’t be so but you have to carefully do what each one of us can do the best,” they voiced their opinion of today’s music scene they see locally.
So, what do De Lanerolle brothers give back to our society?
Ishan and Rohan, both are voice coaches. “We strive to bring the creative side of the children. We nurture young voices realize their full potential and impart knowledge, technique and skills to perform in front of large audiences. We conduct workshops with the National Youth Orchestra in Kandy, in the Southern Province and even in Jaffna. Ishan has an academy with over 250 students. They are the discarded students from other academies. They fail the audition just because they couldn’t hit one note at that time and they have no place to turn to. Ishan accepts these students and train them to get on stage and perform. And when they put out a show with these children, I find Ishan the most nervous and tensed. It is giving them the opportunity for the first time to perform in front of a big crowd, the start of their journey and that is what we offer for our next generation,” Rohan said.
Rohan is also the only Sri Lankan to take up choral jury work in many places around the world including, Budapest, Venice, Salzburg, Delgado and Rome. He trains two international choirs in Manado, Indonesia and in New Delhi India. The choirs will join the brothers in performance in a show planned to be held this October. The latest task Rohan is handed over is to be charge of Viskha Vidayala Choir. Both brothers apart from their music untiringly work to keep up the tea business `Abacus Tea Private Limited’ their father Rohan De Lanerolle (Snr) commenced. Rohan overlooks the operations of the business as Director Operations while Ishan is the Director Marketing.
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