By Dimithri Wijesinghe
An idea brought to life courtesy of Stigmata Co-Founder and guitarist Tennyson Napoleon during lockdown, as a means to unite guitarists and bassists of all genres and styles to “partake and collaborate on an epic musical journey unlike anything heard or seen before”, the Sri Guitar Jam is a diverse project that is quintessentially unique and absolutely one of a kind.
Uniting the foremost Sri Lankan guitarists from around the world as a collective, Sri Guitar Jam, released on 27 September 2020 at 5 p.m. via Island Pulse, was borne of Tenny’s wish to spread a positive message and breathe new life into the musicians of Lanka who have faced great difficulty during the pandemic.
Sri Guitar Jam is special for a myriad of reasons, with one being that it is bringing together guitarists of Sri Lankan origin from around the world, comprising a star-studded lineup of musicians from Australia, Norway, Bahrain, and South Africa.
“…Veterans and household sensations intertwined with new blood and young rising talent, all of Lankan origin from around the globe,” he said, adding that their youngest collaborator is 17 years old while the oldest is around 72, which really adds to the diversity of the project.
Tenny spoke of how he went about putting together the collaboration, sharing the musicians were given just one brief – to tell their story, their experience through these difficult times – and beyond a few technical guidelines (tempo and key), they were
Having collected the influx of creative works flowing his way, Tenny shared that he chose to compile the works into four categories and create a cohesive story: The first chapter is titled “Lemuria”, inspired by a long-lost continent fabled to have been an advanced civilization also known as “Kumari Kandam”, which is believed to have been located South of India in present day Sri Lanka. The first chapter is broken down into four expansive and elaborate volumes:
Volume I – OM: Emanate
Volume II – Lemuria: The Cradle of Civilization
Volume III – Kumari Kandam: The Aftermath
Volume IV – Rebirth: Utopia
Tenny also stressed the importance of their partners, without whom Sri Guitar Jam would not have been possible, including official strategic partner Sandbox; official online media partner Island Pulse and Pulse; promotions and online partner Decibel.lk; podcast partner ChannaChannaChanna; promotions partners Sh3hara Sri Lankan Music, SL Bruh, Third Ear Productions, and SL Metal Freak; music video partner Evil Cat Lab; venue partner WildchildLabz; and content writer Wordsmith.