Talent hits a target no one else can hit, said Arthur Schopenhauer. And yet, it would take one genius to hit a target that no one else can afford to do. In music industry, you will find quite a lot of artistes. But the same cannot said about the authentic talents. Christopher Paul Peries, who lives down Kalapura, Mt Lavinia, belongs to that rare calibre.
Q: Who found your voice?
A: I studied at St.Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, in late 1940s. Francis Perera, my singing teacher, spotted mine out of all voices at the primary class. He took me to the then Radio Ceylon and got me to perform a duet with him. That was Seethe Duke Geli. Under the guidance of Sunil Shantha I became a radio Artist. I was chosen as an A Grade artist.
Q:Have you been professionally engaged as a singer?
A: I have been professionally into motor car mechanism. I owned the Negombo Automobile Engineers in 1960s and I had customers around the clock. I never dreamt I had so much of fans and my pockets ever full, hopefully singing evergreens! Then I was recruited by the Building Material Corporation as a Transport Officer till my retirement.
Q:You have an inclination towards western style? Any particular reason?
A: About 99 percent of my songs have a link with western musicians and singers. My first song, Pem Loke Pura, had a western music rhythm. It took after Elvis Presley’s Wooden Heart. My song, Ha Mal Pipenne, also became a hit though it followed a western rhythm. That attracted quite a lot of letters from fans.
Q: What do you do with the letters?
A: I must thank my wife, for doing all the secretarial work. She had enjoyed all the contents and offers me a summary. I cannot afford to read all the mails, because I am dead tired when I get home back from a musical show.
I have been hosted by many countries such as Italy, Oman, Abu Dhabi, England and Australia, where I was loaded with mementos and goodies. I have left quite a lot of them in the hotels, and carried home only chocolates for my loved ones. Most musical programmes have featured veteran vocalists such as Latha Walpola, Harooon Lantra, Rukmani Devi, Mohideen Beg, Sisira Wijebandara, Indrani, Malathi de Mel and C T Fernando. They bade goodbye to them while hugging me.
Q: What is your comment on the future of music?
A: Don’t ever like to talk. What you get to hear today will disappear tomorrow. There is hardly any melody, meaning and rhyming. In 1950 what was sung had a storyline.
Q: What is your take on modern techniques?
A: If we had them back then, we would have done wonders. Yes it assists the future voices. Even without proper training, they can give a good output.
To you I would say that I can never forget my Moratuwites who were mostly my schoolmates, friends and accompaniers: Freddy Silva, C.D.Fonseka, Patrick Denipitiya, Vincent de Paul, Roy de Silva and personnel composed/penned my songs, Basil Silva, Vernon Perera, PLA Somapala, Gunadasa Kapuge and Gunaratna Abeysekera.
I was the first Sri Lankan to sing in 1959 to International Philips Label and Colombia Label. The famous advertisement Glocurasa Mame in early 1960’s was sung by me as well as 99% of advertisements on Radio Ceylon jingles in 1950s and 1960s were sung by me.
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