Royal Rock Extravaganza

by Ranga Chandrarathne

The "Royal Rocks": Blue and Gold carnival 2006, the hottest musical extravaganza gets under way at the Race Course, Reid Avenue, Colombo 07 from Friday 07 July to 09 July. The open air carnival, trade fair and musical festival is organised by the Royal College old Hostellers Association (ROCOHA) as part of a fund raising campaign for the expansion of the College Hostel. This open-air concert and trade fair opens at 4.00 p. m. and moves on till 3.00 a. m. in an open-air club environment.

A striking feature of the concert would be its theme musical nights. Accordingly Friday will feature popular Rock Music groups Stigmata and Tantrum and on Saturday the popular pop duo Bhathiya and Santhush who will also present a special version of one of the latest concerts Neththara and on Sunday night Sohan and the X-periments, Corrine, Ronnie, Ginger and Anesley Malewana.

One of the novel features of the concert would be the "Popquest"; and exiting competition to hunt for the best school soloist in the country. The three finalists will perform together with "Bhathiya and Santhush". The winner of the 'Popquest' will be declared at the end of the show while the 'Popquest' finalists would receive cash prizes together with an opportunity to work hand in hand with Bhathiya and Santhush.

The "Mega Trade Fair" will consist of stalls of wide range of consumer goods, electronic equipment, educational material, specially designed food court, fun rides specially planned for the enjoyment of kids, a horror house unlike ever before and many more.

The proceeds of the concerts and trade fair will be remitted to the fund of the Hostel Expansion Project.

The existing hostel building dating back over sixty years needs expansion and renovation to accommodate the dramatically increasing number of scholars from all over the country.

The Hostel building would be constructed at a cost of fifteen million rupees to add six hundred beds in three phases. The phase - 1 project which has been successfully completed and was opened by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005.