Happenings / People

Fashion Designer of the Year 2006

The coupons are now on for the Fashion Designer of the Year Contest organised by the versatile fashion designer Chula Nanayakkara Ariyaratna to be held in association with the Sunday Observer and the Daily News. Scheduled to be held on November 30, 2006 at the main auditorium of the BMICH, the event is sponsored by the Singer Fashion Academy.

Hair and make-up is by Ramzi Rahman.

Age and sex is no barrier says Chula, and invites the girls and the boys, the young and the young-at-heart to send in their sketches of the four categories; sari, evening, casual and office wear.

'Yesterday plus today!'

He's been quite active, laying down tracks for his forthcoming CD which will be released, hopefully next month. Raj Senewiratne tells us that this new CD Eda plus Meda contains selections composed by the late Stanley Pieris, and also Rookantha Goonetilleke with lyrics by Ajantha Ranasinghe and Nandana Weerasinghe. The songs are Sanda Ahase, Mudu Palanda, Sanda Tharu, Ma Sinasuna and the bonus track Sili Sili Seethala Elle, which has a story behind it.

According to Raj, "the song Sili Sili was first recorded in 1983 at Singlanka Studio. The original version of my voice was extracted from it. In 1995, the song was recorded again at the Janakala Studio and the saxophone of Stanley Pieris, the guitar playing of Mahinda Bandara, the flute of V. Hemapala and the violins were taken from this track and Bathiya Jayakody (Bathiya 'n Santush) gave a new sound to the track.

He added drums, bass and a rhythm section and created an overall new music track. Then, in May this year we extracted the 1983 voice track and layered it on the new music track. I sang all the relevant harmonies and the track was mixed at Taurus Audio Promotions."

It's a golden version this new energized re-mix of Sili Sili Seethala Elle and should be on your CD rack for your listening pleasure. Two video clips of selected songs will be released next month too, for telecast on TV.

M.P.

Fund raiser concert

by Mahes Perera

Fans of Lankika of Golden Chimes fame are in for a treat when she celebrates thirty five years in showbiz at a concert that will be staged at the Methodist College Auditorium on Sunday, September 9 at 7.00 p.m.

According to Lankika, her intention is to celebrate this landmark in her musical career in a meaningful manner and as such, all proceeds from this concert will be donated to the Rawatawatte Methodist Church Reconstruction Fund. Enjoy her hits like Kimada Nave, Molaketiputhuni, Malai Welai, Sandai Tharui, Puthu Nidiyai and more.

Joining Lankika and the Golden Chimes to celebrate the occasion will be Annesley Malawana, Indrani Perera, Anil Bhareti, Mariazelle, Keerthi Pasquel, Christine Gunawardena, Rajiv Sebastian, Sureshni and Rukshan.

Lankika the only girl vocalist associated with the Golden Chimes has released audio cassettes and CDs.Her cassette Maya became a hot favourite as it contained English melodies with Sinhala lyrics, some of the selections being Blue Eyes, Crying in the Rain, I Love You Because and Paper Roses.

She is a popular singer in the Middle East and has performed for her fans in Lebanon, Bahrein, Doha and Qatar. A mother of two talented sons Chamila and Chamin, Lankika is happy managing both careers to her fullest satisfaction.

Tickets for 'Celebration 35' are moving fast and are available at Torana outlets and at Cool Jays Entertainment.

Calypso magic

Getting geared to fly into Oman is the calypso band Sri Lankians to perform on contract for the third time running at the Al Sawadi Beach Hotel.

The group has been on our show biz scene for quite sometime, performing at most of the leading hotels in Colombo and also down South.

But most of their career has been spent overseas performing in New Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta and Mumbai. The group was also fortunate in performing in Europe and according to Sarath the leader, the response of the guests at the hotels, to their music, was encouraging.

The Sri Lankians is led by vocalist, guitarist Sarath Samarawickrema who sings in 18 languages. His wife Visakha sings most of the Sinhala songs as well as the Hindi songs in their repertoire. The other members of the band are the vocalist and conga player Milroy Perera who's had a long experience of performances in the Maldives. Ray Fernando the talented lead guitarist forms an integral part in the band.

M.P.