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| Sunday, 23 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Familians in Harmony The Senior Choir of Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, has been selected to perform at the prestigious Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, at the Royal International Pavilion in July this year. The twenty categories of the competition range from Mixed choir to Barbershop choir to Vocal solo, Choreographic adult dance, Songs from the shows, Instrumental solo to the Youth Choir Category, which the HFC choir will be competing in. As a fundraiser towards their trip to Wales, the Familians are organising an evening of music, 'Familians in Harmony', on June 12 and 13 to be held at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. The evening will consist of music from all eras and will cater to an audience of varied tastes in music. Some of the great Latin classics like Schubert's 'Ave Maria', 'Agnus Dei', favourite oldies like 'Misty' and popular songs from the famous musicals 'Chicago', Les Miserables, West Side Story and My Best Friends Wedding, are some of the many highlights of the show. A guest performance by the Peterite Chorale, directed by Stefan Corera, will be a highlight of the show and there will also be some combined choir numbers. The show is produced by veteran director Jerome de Silva, with accompanists like Neranjan de Silva and Christopher Prins, among others, to add colour to the performance. Llangollen festival This year's Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod will be the 58th event of its kind. In 1946, barely a year since the end of the Second World War, the formation of the International Eisteddfod began. Harold Tudor, a journalist with the Liverpool Daily Post and, at the time, a regional officer of the British Council, first conceived the idea of an International version of the traditional Welsh Eisteddfod. Since the first Eisteddfod took place, over three million people have visited the beautiful Welsh town that has for 57 years hosted the world at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Each July, between 2000 and 5000 competitors and as many as 50,000 visitors have been eager to witness the dazzling spectacle and experience the magic of Llangollen, which is now organized by over 900 volunteers. The Eisteddfod has remained unchanged over the years. Amateur musicians, dancers and singers from around forty different countries ranging from Mongolia to the U.S.A., compete in up to 20 contrasting competitions, each year. It has also attracted over 400,000 competitors from 114 different countries over the past 20 years. Watched by audiences ranging from the curious to the ardent music lover, the entrants are judged by an international cross section of adjudicators. The remarkable feature of the Eisteddfod is that each evening the best and most colourful competitors share the stage with professional artists in renowned concerts. Many of these professional artists started their careers in Llangollen. Placido Domingo acknowledges that his first professional experience in the United Kingdom was at the 1968 International Eisteddfod, and in 1955 Luciano Pavarotti competed with his father in the male voice choir competition with others from their hometown of Modena. The choir won their section, and Pavarotti returned for a spectacular concert in 1995. Kiri Te Kanawa, Shirley Bassey, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Harlem Gospel Choir, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Lesley Garrett, Bryn Terfel, Dennis O'Neil, James Galway and Montserrat Caballe are among the musical stars that have appeared in the final Sunday Evening Gala Concert. ******************** Dram Soc doesn't miss a beat Students present a unique programme of music and poetry readings
The programme is devised and adapted from the poem 'Piano and drums' by the Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara. It will include music from the classical composers right up to the contemporary period with jazz, rock and roll, music from the Broadway musicals an films, contemporary music and Sri Lankan chants and drumming. The classical section is presented by a few selected students from the Thomian Chamber Orchestra. Works by Bach, Handel, Chopin, Mozart and Gershwin are some of the selections on the programme. What is unique about this production is the fact that each age of music will correspond with a reading from a poet of that age. Works by Shakespeare, Donne, Wordsworth, Blake, Frost, Armitage and John Cooper Clark and our very own Jean Arrsanayagam will be read, says a press release from the college. Asitha Tennakoon, an accomplished musician as a pianist and soloist, will lead the classical section. He will be performing works by Chopin and Handel. The orchestra, which has earned a reputation over the years as being an accomplished school orchestra, will perform in the first half of the show. The highlight of the second half of the show is the innovative drumming of Chaminda Samaraweera, an 18-year-old student. Drumming seems life to him and he takes it very seriously. His style at this show varies from rock and roll. Jazz, to contemporary Sri Lankan rhythm. The saxophonist is Damith Peiris, 16 who enjoys playing this instrument effortlessly. Both Chaminda and Damith featured in the Dram Soc's Christmas production last year. Daham Ratnayake, will team up with Chaminda, in performing the final section of the programme, which is a fusion of eastern and western drums. ******************** It's my song! Singer Irine Liyanage was busy preparing to celebrate 48 years in the music field, when she received a call that embarrassed her considerably. "I wrote that song - pibidenna puthe, pibidenna duwe, claimed the caller. The voice was unfamiliar.
The song became very popular but this humble lyricist, did not come forward to claim the credit. It became popular under someone else's tag. Irine first introduced him as the lyricist of this song at the Sundara Senasurada musical feature on Swarnavahini recently. This 'silent lyricist' is Chandra Sri Somasiri of Silumina Editorial. "I was watching the Sundara Senasurada program and there Irine sang my song but the lyricist's name was someone else's. I phoned her and requested her to correct the mistake", Somasiri explained. As an undergraduate of University of Kelaniya, he used to send lyrics to Nawa Padamala, a lyric bank of the SLBC, in 1970s. These lyrics were also picked up by Milton Perera (Ma Obe Ki Oba), Newton Tissa Arachchi Annanthayak Nethi Nila Akase and Rohan Weerasinghe Love Kothanada Samayen and all these songs became popular in 1970s. A fan of classic Hindi songs Somasiri is now busy producing of a cassette, a collection of classic Hindi songs. |
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The Thomian Dram Soc is busy preparing for their latest and most
innovative production. It is their first production for this year, and
takes the form of music and poetry readings. Aptly titled 'Piano and
drums', the show takes place on June 10, 11 and 12, at the garden of the
Russian Cultural Centre.
Without questioning she patiently listened to the caller till he
explained how he penned this song, one of her block busters during 1970s.
After a lapse of 26 years, the singer and the lyricist were talking to
each other, for the first time.
