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| Sunday, 12 May 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Nanda Malini launches new CD
The CD contains a collection of meaningful religious songs and I'm proud that I am the first singer to launch my CD in this manner. I will be also performing all the songs on the CD at the launch, says Nanda Malini. Ever since she sang the theme song for the film 'Ran Muthu Duwa', Nanda Malini's music career has escalated to stardom. A Super Grade Artiste of the SLBC, where she had her beginnings as a teenager, Nanda Malini was courageous to stage her first solo concert Preverna Aradhana at Lumbini Hall, which turned out to be a great success. "From then on I have sung at many concerts, and to date I have recorded 26 CD/Cassettes and toured more than 30 countries singing to large audiences of Sri Lankans who miss our music and our country. Most of my CDs have a ready market abroad", expresses Nanda Malini. The lyrics for her collection of songs according to Nanda Malini were by many writers, including John de Silva, Sri Chandraratne Manawasinghe, Arisen Ahubudu, Ven. Theras Rambukana Sidhartha, Pallegama Hemarathana and Wattewewa Dhammananda. Many leading composers wrote the music for the tracks including Wiswanathalatchi, P. Dunstan de Silva, Rohana Weerasinghe who also directed the music for the CD, Stanley Pieris, Gunadasa Kapuge and D.D. Danny. Associated with the legend Nanda Malini in the vocals are some of the leading names of today Sunil Edirisinghe, Deepika Priyadharshani, Niranjala Sarojini, Damayanthi Jayasuriya. The performance will be televised live by Swarnavahini compered by Hema Nalin Karunaratne and produced by Kalum Palitha Mahiratne. Sing Lanka, the label producers will make available the CD/cassette to
the public at a discount while Swarnavahini will organise a dansala at the
Gangaramaya sponsored by Milco and Maliban. Special screenings in Italy Special screenings of the film titled " Thahanam Gaha" will be held from today (May 12) to July 14 in Italy. The film is based on a story of a demolition of the Leftist movement and a family break up due to an unwanted relationship. The cast includes Anoja Weerasingha, Dilhani Ekanayake, Siril Wickramage, Asoka Pereis, Sunethra Sarachchandra, Razi Anwar, Richard Weerakkody, and Indrajith Nawinna. The film is directed by Christy Shelton Fernando. The film shows in Italy are organised by the Association of Solidarity
Sri Lanka-Italy. 'The Ritual' by James Claro "So, the way he tells it, this girl's husband and his mother had planned the whole thing. Yes, yes. All because of the dowry. Dowry is very important......the mother threw the kerosene onto her and the son threw fire. How she must have burnt. The clothes stick on to the body and burn right into the flesh, no?" These are among the first words we hear from the old village gossip Ariyawathie (Avanti Perera) as she addresses the audience at the start of the play and sets out its main motifs: fire, burning and dowry. This gossip - this threat from beyond the house walls where the action takes place - infects the newly married Kalani's (Anushaka Pereira) mind and disturbs her mental equilibrium. As she squats mesmerised by the kerosene stove that came with her to Chandrasekere's (Jehan Aloysius) house as a marriage present, she begins to hallucinate and rebel against the suffocation of her life. For her the stove symbolises dowry and her family's relative lack of wealth but is also a reminder of what can happen to girls whose in-laws are disappointed with them. As she broods over her dowry present, traditional Kolam dancers enact her psychological uncertainty to a dissonant musical accompaniment. The drama moves onto address several themes, such as arranged marriages, procreation and sex, infidelity, parental interference and sibling rivalry, whilst all the time the beguiling and intriguing dances of the kolam dancers swirl around the stage. The lives of the main protagonists and their repressed and hidden passions become ever more complex and intertwined. Chandrasekare's younger brother Sujeeva (Vishvamithra Ahangama) has an affair with Kalani and when she conceives, it is uncertain as to who the father is, Chandrasekare or Sujeeva himself. The tensions boil over in a violent and shocking denouement when Chandrasekeare's mother (Tracy Holsinger) is herself victim of a kerosene stove burning. "The Ritual" was staged at the British Council on 5, 6 and 7 April to full and appreciative audiences who witnessed some fine acting and compelling dancing. Excellent use of strings, drums and cymbals heightened the atmosphere. The mix of Sri Lankan masked theatre with more conventional (to western eyes) dramatic forms meant that at times the play resembled a Greek tragedy (with the Kolam dancers a visual chorus), at others kitchen sink dramas such as John Osborne's "Look back in anger"; Kalani a kind of female Jimmy Porter. This is a challenging play from Jehan Aloysius and Centrestage Productions, which demonstrates that Sri Lankan theatre is capable of producing and staging difficult and novel theatrical forms, which are both accessible and provocative. Centrestage Productions together with the British Council will present
a repeat performance of'The Ritual' on May 12 (today) at 7.30 p.m. at the
WUS Hall University of Peradeniya. Opera star in charity concert
Hailed as the best Countess in Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' and the winner of the famous Maria Callas International Vocal Competition, the Soprano Margarita Alaverdian will give a charity concert tomorrow May 13 at the Golden Ballroom of The Lanka Oberoi. Her collaborator in this dinner concert which benefits the Rehabilitation Centre for the Communication Impaired is conductor/pianist Rohan Joseph de Saram. The principal soloist of the world famous Kirov Opera Company in St. Petersburg, Russia Ms. Alaverdian has sung in the Company's productions of 'The Marriage of Figaro,' 'La Traviata', 'Il Trovatore' and 'Madam butterfly'. She has a varied chamber repertoire which includes vocal cycles by Glinka, Balakirev, Rimsky - Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Wagner and Richard Strauss. She has received rave reviews for her performances in the demanding soprano parts in the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi, in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mahler's Fourth symphony. In her program tomorrow Ms. Alaverdian will include the Melody from Gluck's 'Orfeo et Eurydice,' Bellinis Casta Diva from 'Norma', Caro Nome from Verdi's Rigoletto and 'Sempre Libera' from La Traviata and the popular O Mio Babbino Caro from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Ms. Alaverdian is also scheduled to give a master class for singers on Wednesday May 15 at The Afrium Lanka Oberoi from 6-8 pm. For further information please contact the Public Relations Officer of Lanka Oberoi. |
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The
living legend Nanda Malini who has enthraled many a fan over the past
twenty five years with her dulcet voice will significantly release her
latest CD/Audio Cassette 'Sadhu Nadha' on Vesak Poya, Sunday May 26 at
Hunupitiya Gangaramaya. This unique launch the first in our musical
history by a leading female singer, will be a presentation to 100 Buddhist
monks at 8.45 am.
