“HAVE FAITH IN PERCY” – By Des Kelly

“If music be the food of love, play on”. What an extraordinarily beautiful phrase ?, one of my favourites, because, as I always say, good music is the ONE ingredient that could turn a gloomy day into a bright one, an unhappy individual into someone with a new hope, in other words, a frown into a smile, and so the list goes on.

Of course, this will depend on the MUSIC that IS “the food of love”!. The days of “gourmet” music are unfortunately few and far between, nowadays, my friends.

Loud, raucous, “so-called” music, blasted out, electronically, more often, than not, now seems to be the flavour of the present era. As it was, in Africa, eons ago, when music was simply a means of contacting each other, via the beating of drums, (wooden clubs on-tree, style), in order to plan warfare on this other “tribe” that was threatening them, today’s LOUD bands get together in order to try to burst the eardrums of their audiences, and, if that wasn’t enough, to smash expensive guitars & other equipment, for no reason, whatsoever.

The days of Percy have passed us by, but, as the Editor of the “top” website for all Lankan Aussies,(eLanka), I do my very best to recapture the “softer” music referred to, in the first paragraph of this story. Maestro Percy Faith, was a Band-leader, Orchestrator, Composer, & Conductor, born in Toronto, Canada, on April,7th, 1908, became World-famous for his lush musical compositions, and was credited for introducing “Mood-Music” & “Easy-Listening” for music lovers everywhere. Among Composers, this man was a genius. As a child, he was considered a prodigy on piano, unfortunately burning his hands rather badly in a fire at his home in 1926 (he was 18, at the time), then took to “Conducting”, went on, during the 50’s & 60’s, (those were the days, my friends), to create “hits” for Artistes such as Doris Day, and what a beautiful voice she had, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and even Burl Ives. Again, unfortunately, this great musician died on the 9th of February, 1976, aged just 68.. He had dozens of instrumental hits, himself, the very first, called “Delicado” , but, as usual, for my readers everywhere, I always pick what I consider, the very BEST in music clips (on you-tube), & this time, “Symphony”, which, in one word, asks you to “HAVE FAITH IN PERCY”(FAITH, was his name, MUSIC, his game).