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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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'Angel' - gives Charles Mark more fans by Mahes Perera
The happiness of being winners at international level not once but twice last year at the Astana at Kazakhstan and at Prague spurred Charles Mark to throw themselves into working with commitment to release their debut album Surangana (Angel) which is now selling rapidly. In fact the first set of 500 CDs were sold out, like hot cakes, to use a cliche. The second set also released by M Entertainments will no doubt enjoy the same response. Award winners of Voice of Asia 2003-2004 Kazakhstan and the first Asian band to win Universtalent Competition in Europe, Charles Mark's CD contains the songs they sang at the two competitions. At Kazakhstan the duo turned up trumps when they sang Barefooted, Surangana and Wanna Hold You, the latter two in Sinhala. The song they sang at Universtalent 2004 Tribute which Bertram Charles wrote for his father, are all included in the CD. The other creative tracks Ma Igilee Yanawa, Seetha Sulangin, If I Can Make A Wish, Sande Ne (sung by Davashri), Sooriya Kantha, the gospel song I Was Standing and Teenage Love with Sarah Beute reflect the wealth of talent in Charles Mark which only needed to be nudged to burst forth as it has done in the CD. The music arrangement and mixing has been handled by Ranga Dassanayake with the clever use of tabla, sitar and tammatama. Since this is their debut CD, Charles Mark has to be congratulated for their creativity in writing, using a mix of soul and a touch of hip hop, the lyrics and vocal stylings which no doubt will reach out to the youth music lovers. They must ensure however that in their future releases, like some other groups in existence, their music is not guilty of a sameness in overall rhythm and structure patterns. It could creep in, but a definite effort must be made to veer away from it. Drawing from Sinhala folk tunes is one thing, but using it in a haphazard manner to fill in the blanks, is not encouraging. It can detract from the appreciation of the song. Just a word of caution. "We Sri Lankans have natural folk rhythms in us and that's how you hear the folk influences. We will be embarking on a promotional tour of the CD individually and Charles Mark intends going abroad to promote the album. Already we are told that 500 CD's and more than 1,000 audio cassettes have been sold out and quite naturally we are happy about that" comments a smiling Rukshan Mark. Chitral tours with Firewind The month of April has turned out to be a lucky month for Chitral 'Chity' Somapala who is on a European Festival Tour with his current 'Greek melodic and power metal band Firewind.
Chitral, the youngest son of the legendary and famous Sri Lankan singers P.L.A. Somapala and Chitra, must surely be happy that he has achieved success, but at the same time, as he commented, he is sad that his parents are not around to see him enjoying this special popularity in the rock world. His parents sang about the glories of Sri Lankas heritage of Dambulugale and Isurumuniya, so far removed from metal rock. Coming back to Chitral, one time singer/bassist of the Sri Lankan band Friends, moved out after a spell to join Avalon in Germany as their vocalist, and is also a member of Faro and Moonlight Agony. His outstanding vocal stylings led the band Firewind to invite him to be a member of their band for this tour. Firewind's release 'Forged By Fire' has entered the Japanese National Charts. The band was voted the 5th best band in the Young Guitar magazine and according to the band the rest of the world is to be conquered next ! 'Forged By Fire' includes the best elements of powerful melodic metal as well as hard rock and if you are a fan of Judas Priest and Helloween then you will be bound to enjoy Firewind. Chitral's European tour with Firewind, will see the Grammy Nominated true metal heroes Hammerfall from Sweden and Thunderstone/Lordi and Pretty Maids, also performing on the same stage. MP A rendezvous with distinction A galaxy of teachers from all over the island participated in a workshop for teachers of English held by the Colombo Academy of Language Skills and Dramatic Art.
In this interactive session were included demonstrations, talks, topical discussions, a quiz programme, games, fun activities and of course music for light entertainment and relaxation. The informal atmosphere gave the opportunity for teachers to share their ideas, make friends and enjoy the company of those engaged in the same profession. The highlight of the workshop was the presentation of "demonstration examination procedure" which provided the teachers with valuable hints and an insight to preparing students for the respective examinations conducted by the Academy. The teachers participated in a 'Q & A' session where they were free to voice their opinions and make clarifications with regard to examination requirements. Award of Recognition
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| Produced by Lake House |
The annual Sarasavi Nirmana Prasada Pooja Awards ceremony organised by
the Sarasavi Nirmana Ranga Peetaya to appreciate the contribution to arts
made by Sri Lankan artistes and journalists was held at the John de Silva
Memorial Theatre, Colombo recently. Here Deepthi Fonseka of the Sarasaviya
Film Weekly receives the Gundadasa Liyanage Memorial Award for her
contribution of 20 years in journalism, from Chandralatha Liyanage during
the awards presentation.
