Arts

Peradeniya Singers and Young Professionals in Concert aid Lift Every Voice

by Ranga Chandrarathne

'Lift Every Voice' a concert by the Peradeniya Singers and Young Professionals will be held on July 21st at 6.30 p.m. and on July 28th, at 7.00 p.m. 2007 at Girls High School Hall Kandy and Lionel Wendt Theatre respectively.

The performances are held in aid of the Cancer Home and Sadaham Dehana, a cultural organisation dedicated to teaching folk arts to under-privileged children. The Peradeniya Singers are a vibrant choir with an inspirational conductor in Bridget Halp, says Antonietta Notariello ARAM ABRSM Examiner.

The concert will be directed by Bridget Halpe, whose singular vocation is to give the best in Classical music to all who wish to enjoy it. Bridget Halpe believes that music has the magical property of healing wounded minds and cultivates positive attitudes of caring and nurturing. In Greek civilization music was given prime place as a means of refining mind and soul.

The concert is made up of classical pieces as well as light numbers and instrumental works include Guitar, Piano and Cello. The choral group for the performances is a mixed group of all ages and sexes.

Apart from this concert promising to be an enjoyable and instructive one, it is being offered for notable and worthy charities of Sri Lanka. Surely, music is not only an universal language but it also has the ability to overcome the petty barriers of race, class and creed. In our war-torn country, it gives us the language of true peace.

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Listening to their voices
Crying out their inner soul

by Ranga Chandrarathne

The eventful evening of performances by the Tsunami victims of Batticaloa and Trincomalee titled ?Listening to their voices was recently held at the modernized Kularathne hall.

Apart from it being a first hand experience for those children who came to Colombo for the performance and had interacted with Sinhala speaking crowd, it provided an insight into the children's world, naturally dominated by bed-time stories and playing with toys, had been destroyed by the ravages of conflict thrust upon them.

One of the most emotional performances was a tone picture of a day in a war zone depicted by children from Batticaloa. Though most of us could not understand a commentary made in Tamil, the day in a war zone was brilliantly portrayed by two children who mimicked the sounds associated with dawn to the dust.

It was a potent sound picture from a children's perspective. The decades of war has become a part and parcel of daily life; the day, commences with the barking of dogs, ends up with hovering helicopters and eerie sound of aerial bombing. It was not a mere expression of children's inner souls but the collective plight of hapless generation, born and grows up into adulthood amidst conflict.

From the gleaming countances, it was clear that the children had got rid of the shock and the horrendous experience of Tsunami. The process of healing through theatre has been successful in erasing the nightmares of the children and re-integrating them into the society as citizens of the nation.

The performance was fined tuned by Ms. Arundathi Ranganathan and Ravi Bandu Vidyapathy. The event was organised by the Foundation for Co-Existence in collaboration with UNICEF.

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A Charity Walk and Drama

'A Walk for the Child', a charity walk will be conducted on July 28, 2007 and children and parents will take part in the walk which will be followed by a drama. The same drama will be staged on July 21 at Excel World followed by another performance at Ananda Samarakoon open-air theatre in Nugegoda.

The drama consists of three plays; Journey, Plot and Bully. The Journey reflects on various issues and the Plot is on competition faced by modern child and the Bully is about bullying. The journey is a result of hard work and loads of rehearsal and is an improvisation by the children and Sashi de Costa, the teacher in charge.

A game of hot sleeping, creative exercises where child sits on a chair while other sit on the child, then the child assumed a character of a child, may be a victim of war and a series of plays were made out of children's imagination and the result of selection is the Journey.

Seventy five percent of the proceeds of the walk will go to the charity, 'Children's heart' offering three types of free heart surgery for children while the remaining goes to the children's orphanage. The Charity walk and the Drama will be held to mark the tenth anniversary of Gateway International School.

RC

Why are men domineering?

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Why are men domineering? The phenomenon is often true, men in general always want to be heard in all aspects, they want to dominate everybody especially the women, be it at home or otherwise.

Why is this so? It is interesting to look into the reality of this situation which could be inevitable in some instances, so women lets not harp about it... but then again, nobody has the right to ride on your fundamental human rights to freedom of speech, rights or worship in the name of husband or whatever...

Psychologists says that those who have higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, and related hormones had a personality profile dominant, impatient and aggressive to find their way to position or responsible leadership.

A man who attempts to control other people, who expresses his opinions forcefully and his anger freely, and who dominates social interactions is said to exercise such behaviour as a result of high levels of testosterone and exactly how a man's high testosterone level is expressed depends on his social class too.

Men with the highest testosterone levels were two and a half times more likely a lower social and economic status, and likely to show up readiness for fights, a history of minor crimes, chronic trouble with parents, teachers and peers in childhood.

So, if a mans behaviour is unacceptable or falls short of social norms be more analytical and compromise with him, and be calm, as hormonal secretions create a propensity for certain behaviour and testosterone seems to be most strongly linked to competitiveness and dominance. Studies have shown that among rapist and bullies at school the levels, of testosterone is high.

Players with the highest testosterone levels before each match were the most 'psyched', feeling optimistic about the match. Afterwards testosterone levels rose in those who won, studies show. So there is a link between triumph and testosterone levels which possibly could account for the momentum of losing or winning streak.

One may ask doesn't it apply to women. Psychologists says that after puberty, testosterone levels in men are about ten times higher than in women. The highest testosterone level in women tends to fall within the low range for men, hence the hormone is a far greater factor for men than women, but other factors can make women just as competitive as men.

But scientists also caution against placing too much stock on the importance of hormones like testosterone but also place relative emphasis on social and psychological factors as well.

Women generally find it difficult to leave an abusive husband. What about the situation vice versa. There are still some men who stay in abusive relationships too and there seems to be more abusive husbands than abusive wives these days, in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, women are not saints but some women without reason can be violent and aggressive and their husbands do not know how to please them. Yes, men can be abused too, but the situation is slightly different and usually involves mostly emotional abuse, but men do stay in abusive relationships for various reasons.

It could be for LOVE: In spite of the abuse he may find enough good in the relationship to 'make up' for the abuse. Often men don't see the pain and problems in marriage as easily as wives do.

Denial: He may feel her abuse is caused by her emotional personality PMS or other hormonal fluctuations and he decides to ignore her abuse because he loves her and wants the relationship to continue.

Financial: He may stay, not because he wouldn't be able to support himself but because of the prospect of paying child support and alimony or dividing marital assets, so he may chose to stay until the children are grown up.

Fear: Men worry about what women would be to themselves rather than what they might do to men. Abusive women often threaten suicide if the partner leaves or threaten trouble for the man at his workplace.

Insults: Most men are raised to depend on women to 'take care of them.' Some men have low self esteem and to avoid answering many questions they stay and 'rough it out.' So next time you encounter a situation with a domineering man just try turning a blind eye and a deaf ear, it may be worth the while.

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